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ALGIERS (AFP) – Oil-rich Algeria went to the polls Thursday with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika favourite to land a third term and a fresh mandate to fight off a persistent Al-Qaeda undercurrent.
Bouteflika voted at about 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in the chic heights of Algiers neighbourhood El Biar, accompanied by two young nephews and a brother, but made no declaration to waiting AFP correspondents.
While political opponents -- many of whom boycotted the polls -- consider the result a foregone conclusion, a key focus was on how many voters would have turned out once polling closes at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT).
The turnout by 1200 GMT was 29.42 percent, according to Interior Minister Yahid Zerhouni, who also said there had been disruptive incidents at two places in the north of the country.
Armed Islamic extremists injured two police officers in a bomb blast at Naceria near Boumerdes, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Algiers, local people told AFP, adding that the security forces had defused two other devices.
Zerhouni mentioned the incident, but he gave no details.
"Vote, even vote against me, but vote," the paternalist Bouteflika urged 20.6 million electors as he criss-crossed the north African nation after his third five-year term was made possible by a constitutional amendment.
The 72-year-old, whose portrait dominates city building facades, is up against five less well resourced candidates who complained that state machinery oiled the incumbent's slick campaign.
Security was tight around the 46,577 voting booths and other "sensitive" targets, Zerhouni said after potential threats from armed Islamists of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, active in some regions.
The head of Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa called on Algerians to boycott this week's presidential election in an audio message posted on an Islamist website on Monday.
Two polling stations were closed at Rafour in the northeastern Kabylie district, the heartland of Algeria's indigenous Berbers, Zerhouni said on television in the afternoon.
"A group of 10 to 15 people tried to stop the election... at Rafour. They destroyed the ballot boxes. We were forced to close these two polling stations, where 6,000 voters are registered," he said.
African Union, Organization of the Islamic Conference and Arab League observers are all present and the United Nations has sent a review mission that will report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Bouteflika hopes that a bigger turnout than in 2004 will enhance his authority. Last time, 58.07 percent of the electorate voted.
As Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyhaia cast his vote in downtown Algiers, he tipped a high turnout.
His supporters -- of whom there are many -- say he ended a civil war in the 1990s between the military-backed government and insurgents that left at least 150,000 people dead.
The unrest stemmed from the military's intervention in a parliamentary poll in 1991 to stop an Islamist victory.
Along with measures to create jobs and build homes, Bouteflika has raised the possibility of holding a referendum on a general amnesty for Islamists who surrender.
His national reconciliation policy has already led several thousand Islamists to lay down their arms.
Bouteflika's rivals also appealed for a high turnout, calling on Algerians to vote against corruption, cronyism, social injustice and unfair division of wealth.
"No winner can collect 50 percent of the vote (enough for an outright win) in the first round because I have seen how angry" people are, Djahid Younsi of the moderate Islamist El Islah party said.
Another candidate, Louisa Hanoune, the only woman candidate and leader of the Trotskyist Workers' Party (PT), collected only one percent of the vote in 2004.
Moussa Touati, president of the Algerian National Front (FNA), Mohamed Said of the moderate Islamist Justice and Liberty Party (PJL) running as an independent and Ali Fawzi Rebaine of the AHD-54 nationalist party complete the ballot.
Bouteflika voted at about 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in the chic heights of Algiers neighbourhood El Biar, accompanied by two young nephews and a brother, but made no declaration to waiting AFP correspondents.
While political opponents -- many of whom boycotted the polls -- consider the result a foregone conclusion, a key focus was on how many voters would have turned out once polling closes at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT).
The turnout by 1200 GMT was 29.42 percent, according to Interior Minister Yahid Zerhouni, who also said there had been disruptive incidents at two places in the north of the country.
Armed Islamic extremists injured two police officers in a bomb blast at Naceria near Boumerdes, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Algiers, local people told AFP, adding that the security forces had defused two other devices.
Zerhouni mentioned the incident, but he gave no details.
"Vote, even vote against me, but vote," the paternalist Bouteflika urged 20.6 million electors as he criss-crossed the north African nation after his third five-year term was made possible by a constitutional amendment.
The 72-year-old, whose portrait dominates city building facades, is up against five less well resourced candidates who complained that state machinery oiled the incumbent's slick campaign.
Security was tight around the 46,577 voting booths and other "sensitive" targets, Zerhouni said after potential threats from armed Islamists of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, active in some regions.
The head of Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa called on Algerians to boycott this week's presidential election in an audio message posted on an Islamist website on Monday.
Two polling stations were closed at Rafour in the northeastern Kabylie district, the heartland of Algeria's indigenous Berbers, Zerhouni said on television in the afternoon.
"A group of 10 to 15 people tried to stop the election... at Rafour. They destroyed the ballot boxes. We were forced to close these two polling stations, where 6,000 voters are registered," he said.
African Union, Organization of the Islamic Conference and Arab League observers are all present and the United Nations has sent a review mission that will report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Bouteflika hopes that a bigger turnout than in 2004 will enhance his authority. Last time, 58.07 percent of the electorate voted.
As Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyhaia cast his vote in downtown Algiers, he tipped a high turnout.
His supporters -- of whom there are many -- say he ended a civil war in the 1990s between the military-backed government and insurgents that left at least 150,000 people dead.
The unrest stemmed from the military's intervention in a parliamentary poll in 1991 to stop an Islamist victory.
Along with measures to create jobs and build homes, Bouteflika has raised the possibility of holding a referendum on a general amnesty for Islamists who surrender.
His national reconciliation policy has already led several thousand Islamists to lay down their arms.
Bouteflika's rivals also appealed for a high turnout, calling on Algerians to vote against corruption, cronyism, social injustice and unfair division of wealth.
"No winner can collect 50 percent of the vote (enough for an outright win) in the first round because I have seen how angry" people are, Djahid Younsi of the moderate Islamist El Islah party said.
Another candidate, Louisa Hanoune, the only woman candidate and leader of the Trotskyist Workers' Party (PT), collected only one percent of the vote in 2004.
Moussa Touati, president of the Algerian National Front (FNA), Mohamed Said of the moderate Islamist Justice and Liberty Party (PJL) running as an independent and Ali Fawzi Rebaine of the AHD-54 nationalist party complete the ballot.
