President re-elected for third term

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika hailed his landslide re-election for a third term as a “lesson in democracy”, but opposition politicians and independent media alleged fraud at the polls, and the US government expressed concern.

Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said Mr Bouteflika won 90.24% of votes in Thursday’s election.

Opponents had called for a boycott of the vote, which was marred by six terror attacks, one of which left a police officer dead, and unrest that left several polling stations burned.

Authorities put the turnout at more than 74% – unusually high for Algeria. Nearly 13 million of Algeria’s 20 million registered voters cast their ballot for the president, Mr Zerhouni said.

“This truly is an eloquent lesson in democracy,” Mr Bouteflika said in remarks carried by the official APS news agency shortly after results were announced. He thanked Algerians for the “precious confidence” vote they granted him.

The 72-year-old president has suffered bouts of ill health.

In power since 1999, Mr Bouteflika was able to seek a third mandate after a constitutional change engineered by his backers in an all-but-closed political system.

Critics have said this could make him president for life.

Mr Bouteflika has repeatedly said he needed a massive victory to continue his policy of national reconciliation and reconstruction following an Islamist insurgency.

The violence has left up to 200,000 people dead since 1992.