Bouteflika seeks victory in Algerian election
Algerians go to the polls for an election in which the incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is hoping for a big turnout and a crushing victory over his five rivals.
"Vote, even vote against me, but vote," he has been urging the country's 20.6 million electors as he criss-crossed the country in search of a third five-year term.
Bouteflika's reelection appears to be a foregone conclusion, not least because the poll is being boycotted by the traditional opposition.
He hopes that a score better than the 84.99 percent he achieved in 2004 will give him an enhanced authority.
"A president who is not elected with a crushing majority is not a president," he said when launching his candidature, the constitution having been changed to allow him to stand for a third term.
In 2004, turnout was a little under 60 percent of those eligible to vote.
Bouteflika's five mostly little-known and cash-strapped rivals are also appealing for a high turnout, calling on Algerians to vote against corruption, cronyism, social injustice and unfair division of wealth.
"No winner can collect 50 percent of the vote (enough for an outright win) in the first round because I have seen how angry" people are, Djahid Younsi (El Islah, moderate Islamist) said.
Louisa Hanoune, the only woman candidate and leader of the Trotskyist Workers' Party (PT), is the only opposition candidate to have a political base and a programme she has put forward for years. But she collected only one percent of the vote in 2004.
Moussa Touati, president of the nationalist Algerian National Front (FNA), Mohamed Said of the moderate Islamist Justice and Liberty Party (PJL) running as an independent and Ali Fawzi Rebaine of the AHD-54 nationalist party, who won 0.63 percent of the vote in 2004, have all criticised the resources made available to "just one candidate".
"Vote, even vote against me, but vote," he has been urging the country's 20.6 million electors as he criss-crossed the country in search of a third five-year term.
Bouteflika's reelection appears to be a foregone conclusion, not least because the poll is being boycotted by the traditional opposition.
He hopes that a score better than the 84.99 percent he achieved in 2004 will give him an enhanced authority.
"A president who is not elected with a crushing majority is not a president," he said when launching his candidature, the constitution having been changed to allow him to stand for a third term.
In 2004, turnout was a little under 60 percent of those eligible to vote.
Bouteflika's five mostly little-known and cash-strapped rivals are also appealing for a high turnout, calling on Algerians to vote against corruption, cronyism, social injustice and unfair division of wealth.
"No winner can collect 50 percent of the vote (enough for an outright win) in the first round because I have seen how angry" people are, Djahid Younsi (El Islah, moderate Islamist) said.
Louisa Hanoune, the only woman candidate and leader of the Trotskyist Workers' Party (PT), is the only opposition candidate to have a political base and a programme she has put forward for years. But she collected only one percent of the vote in 2004.
Moussa Touati, president of the nationalist Algerian National Front (FNA), Mohamed Said of the moderate Islamist Justice and Liberty Party (PJL) running as an independent and Ali Fawzi Rebaine of the AHD-54 nationalist party, who won 0.63 percent of the vote in 2004, have all criticised the resources made available to "just one candidate".
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