Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won 90.24% of the vote to secure his third mandate on Thursday (April 9th). The participation rate is 74.54%, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni announced Friday morning,

Although voting was held under tight security and Zerhouni affirmed that the poll was conducted in "good conditions", several attacks were reported. A bomb exploded at a polling station in Imeghenine, near (Boumerdes) and a police officer was killed by a roadside bomb in Tebessa. Local media also reported that at least nine polling stations in eastern Algeria were vandalised and ballot boxes set on fire, while in Bouira, in upper Kabylie, streets were reportedly blocked to prevent ballots from being delivered to polling stations.

Louisa Hanoune, the candidate representing the Workers’ Party (PT), finished second with 4.22%. Moussa Touati, the president of the National Algerian Front (FNA), was third with 2.31%. Mohamed Djahid Younsi, the president of El Islah, came in fourth with 1.37%. The AHD’s Fewzi Rebaine was fifth with 0.93% and independent candidate Mohamed Said came in last with 0.92%.

Turnout was estimated at 64.76% in Algiers, 30.75% in Tizi Ouzou and 29.36% in Bejaia.

"The high turnout is due to the great efforts made by the authorities and the cleansing of the electoral roll," the interior minister said.

The five losing candidates, however, believe that these figures were artificially inflated by the authorities.

The Socialist Forces Front (FFS), an opposition party which had called for a boycott of the elections, issued a statement Friday saying that the true turnout level did not exceed 18%.

The FFS alleged, "The poll was marred by massive, widespread and open fraud. Local council leaders were amazed to discover that on the day of the elections, thousands of names were suddenly added to the electoral lists in their communes. In the capital, as in many other cities, our activists saw buses packed with people who had come to vote at pre-selected stations where they were not registered to vote. In some regions, soldiers openly cast several votes in numerous communes."

For their part, the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) said Friday that "the irregularities were massive and numerous and occurred from North to South and from East to West, indicating that a concerted fraud strategy was in place at central level".

Candidate Mohamed Said claimed Thursday night that he was aware of "a large number of irregularities at some polling stations, particularly in Relizane, Oum El Bouaghi, Sedrata and M’sila."

Louisa Hanoune complained, "At some polling stations ballot papers for the PT’s candidate were unavailable, and at others they had been defaced. We notified the interior minister immediately."

Candidate Moussa Touati also alleged that turnout levels were inflated: "We know from our own sources that verbal orders were given to polling station officers to bring up the turnout level to 60%."

The interior minister dismissed these reports as mere allegations: "No one has come forward with any proof of these claims. And even if a few irregularities did occur, they had no impact on the final results or the turnout level."

There had been genuine fears of mass abstention. The low 2007 general election voter turnout led many observers to expect the same result on Thursday.

In some polling stations in the capital, many elderly voters complained their names were not on the electoral lists. One of them was Mohamed Haddad, who fought in the Algerian War of Independence. "I’ve always voted, out of patriotism, but today I found out that my name isn’t on the electoral roll. It’s as if I’ve been killed off," he told Magharebia with a lump in his throat.

He was not alone. At another school on Rue de la Liberté, two elderly women kicked up a fuss when they learned their names were not on the electoral roll. "Do they want to ban us from voting?" wondered Hadja Hnifa. Her equally unfortunate friend tried to reassure her: "They’ll correct it and then we can vote next time around."

At crowded cafes, opinions were divided as to whether people should vote. Salim Lamri, who is unemployed, said he would not: "I was unemployed before Bouteflika came along. In the ten years he’s been making promises, I haven’t seen any changes. It’s just billionaires who have done well since he came in."

"They tell us our country is rich but we, the people, have never been as poor as we have been over the last few years," said council employee Rachid Gasmi, who also planned not to vote. "Look at food prices. Do they want us to starve to death? Or force us to start rioting?" he wondered.

Nassima Djabri, who works for a private company, was far more enthusiastic. "Bouteflika has done a lot for women and he has just given them more opportunities to obtain positions of authority at all levels. I’m no expert on politics, but I think he is best placed to run the country," she said.

Her fellow Bouteflika supporters were eager to celebrate. Even before the announcement of the final figures, they drove in a victory procession through the streets of the capital, their car horns honking in triumph.