Electoral fraud warning as Algeria goes to the polls

ALGERIANS, lurching towards democracy after a bloody Islamic uprising, are going to the polls today in a presidential election that pits President Abdelaziz Bouteflika against a group of challengers warning of possible electoral fraud.

Bouteflika's opponents claim authorities could manipulate results from some 40,000 polling stations across Africa's second-largest country, a hotbed of Islamic extremism. But allies of the president have vowed that the election will be fair.

Polls were opening at 8am BST and close at 8pm, but official results were not expected before tomorrow.