2017 Algerian Parliamentary Election Thursday May 04,2017

Algerian voters head to the polls on Thursday May 04,2017 to elect a new parliament amid fears of voter apathy and opposition calls for a boycott.

 The polls will be the first since Algerian politicians amended the constitutional law, giving more power to the legislature.

More than 12,000 candidates are competing for the 462 seats of the People's National Assembly (APN)

Up to 23 million voters are registered to elect members of the parliament's lower house for a five-year term

The National Liberation Front (FLN), that has dominated the country's political scene since Algeria gained independence from France in 1962, and its coalition ally the Rally for National Democracy (RND), led by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's senior adviser Ahmed Ouyahia, have a large majority of seats in the two houses. 

It is most likely that they will retain it.

Opposition parties, which mostly boycotted the 2014 presidential election, have split over whether or not to run for this year's election.

Few of the opposition parties, including former Prime Minister Ali Benflis' movement and the Jil Jadid (Arabic for New Generation) political party, have called for the boycott of the legislative election, saying that the opaque regime has already chosen the winners.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's party & its coalition ally wins majority of seats 

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's party and its coalition ally have won a clear majority of seats in parliament, results released by the interior ministry showed on Friday May 05,2017

Bouteflika's National Liberation Front took 164 of the 462 parliamentary seats. Its coalition ally, the Rally for National Democracy, won another 97.

The National Liberation Front has been the sole ruling party since Algeria’s independence in 1962. Bouteflika has been in power since 1999, despite a stroke that has left him largely incapacitated.

In 2009 he won his third straight term as president, even though he was scarcely seen on the campaign trail.

Despite a 2012 law that requires at least 30 percent of parliamentary candidates to be women – and the emergence of small parties led by young people and focused on local issues – only a minority of Algerians bother casting ballots in parliamentary votes.