Algeria poll turnout reaches 29 percent by midday: minister

Algeria’s presidential elections turnout reached 29.42 percent by midday, interior minister said.

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• “The turnout is excellent compared to the 2004 poll,” Nourredine Yazid Zerhouni told a news conference on Thursday. 
• “The process is going on in good conditions except some skirmishes in some provinces,” he added. 
• According to the minister, some 15 people carried out violent acts at a voting centre in the province of Bouira. The Police kept the centre closed for more than two hours. 
• Zerhouni said security forces foiled a terrorist attack in the town of Naciria in Boumerdes (50 km east of Algiers).