Algeria Parliamentary Elections: ' Voter Turn-Out Set At 42.9% '

Almost 43 percent of Algerian voters cast ballots in Thursday’s legislative elections, according to an Interior Ministry tally released in Algiers. The National Liberation Front Pqrty, FLN, expects to take around 100 seats in the future 462- member National Popular Assembly. The “Green Alliance”, a coalition of three Islamist parties, is also expected to have a large parliamentary presence.

• Political parties released preliminary estimates for Algeria’s parliamentary election on Friday indicating strong showings in the polls by the historic government party FLN and an Islamist alliance.

• Final results are expected to be announced by the Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia later Friday at around 15 hours GMT, but based on tallies from individual polling stations across the country, the former ruling party, the National Liberation Front, FLN, is expected to take about 100 parliamentary seats, while the Islamist “Green Alliance” bloc will get slightly less in the future 462-seat national popular assembly.

• The people of Africa’s largest country by area voted for a new parliament Thursday, in an election, authorities billed as a response to the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement sweeping the region. The May 10th electoral contest, monitored by about 500 international observers, is believed to have been the freest in years in Algeria.

• President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has spent the past several months urging Algerians to come out and vote, alternating promises of bold post-election reforms after elections with warnings that foreign powers might invade Algeria if there is a low turnout.

• In contrast to the long lines and enthusiastic voters found in other Arab countries during elections brought on by the Arab Spring, most Algerians expressed little interest during the election campaign, citing the assembly’s lack of power and chronic election fraud.

• Turnout out hovered at 30 percent in major cities, such as the capital, Algiers, but the government announced that the final rate of participation for inside and outside the county was 42.9 percent of the 21.6 million registered voters.
• State media celebrated the figure as a major improvement over the 36 percent turnout in 2007.

• A number of independent newspapers expressed skepticism over the government’s final turnout figure, citing a lack of voter interest observed across the country by their reporters in the field. Between 5:30 p.m. local time and the close of polls at 8 p.m., turnout jumped from 35 to 44 percent inside the country, suggesting a last minute rush to vote.

• The new parliament is expected to help rewrite the country’s constitution and have a say in the organization of Algeria’s all-important presidential election in 2014.