Polls have opened in Algeria where incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is seeking a fourth term in office
23 million Algerians are eligible to vote
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (C), running for re-election, casts his ballot from a wheelchair at a polling station in Algiers on April 17, 2014
Incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika(77) has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke last year and has not campaigned personally ahead of the election.
Incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is favourite to win, is facing 5 other candidates
Presidential Candidates
Incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika(National Liberation Front)
Ali Benflis,a former prime minister
Louisa Hanoune,Secretary General of the Worler's Party
Yasmina Khadra
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Wins 4th Term
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won a fourth term in office taking more than 81% of the vote
Algeria's election results
- Abdelaziz Bouteflika: 81.53%
- Ali Benflis: 12.18%
Turnout was said to be 51.7% of the country's 23 million registered voters, down from the 75% in 2009.
A coalition of Islamist and secular opposition parties had called for a boycott, describing the election as a sham and saying Mr Bouteflika was unfit to run because of his health problems.
Three other presidential candidates pulled out of the race soon after Abdelaziz Bouteflika's candidacy was announced, saying the result would be a foregone conclusion.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika's victory had been widely expected. His supporters celebrated in Algiers after polls closed late Thursday and Friday's papers anticipated his re-election before the results were announced.
The leaders of Algeria's former colonial power France and of neighbouring Morocco were the first to congratulate Abdelaziz Bouteflika
The re-election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika who has ruled the energy-rich North African nation since 1999 has provoked the anger of youths desperate for change, amid widespread corruption, high youth unemployment and sectarian unrest
Note
Abdelaziz Bouteflika took office in 1999 when Algeria was still caught up in a civil war between the military and Islamist militants, and has been credited by supporters for curbing the conflict and restoring some economic stability.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika scrapped constitutional rules in 2008 limiting him to two terms in office, and won elections the following year with 90% of the vote
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