Algerians vote on peace plan

Algerians voted yesterday on a peace plan the government says will help the country move on from a brutal Islamic insurgency that left an estimated 150,000 dead, but which critics charge will whitewash past crimes.

More than 18 million voters were called to polling stations in the oil- and gas-rich North African country, which stretches from the Mediterranean coast to the sandy wastes of the Sahara Desert and is a US ally in the war on terror.

Results were scheduled to be announced today, said Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni. He said the turnout with just a few districts left to be counted was 79.49%.

Voters were asked simply whether they approved of the proposed Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. They received two ballots, one white marked “No” in Arabic and French – a linguistic legacy of France’s former rule of Algeria – the other blue, marked “Yes.” Voters slipped their choice into an envelope that they then dropped into ballot boxes.