Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been re-elected president of Algeria for a third term with 12,911,705 of the vote, that is, a 90.24 percent majority, in the presidential election held on Thursday, April 9, Algeria's Minister of Interior and Local Authorities, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni announced on Friday. According to APS news agency, the Algerian leader is followed by Louisa Hanoune with 604,258 votes, that is, 4.22 percent, Moussa Touati with 330,570 votes (2.31 per cent), Djahid Younsi with 176,674 votes (1.37 percent), Ali Fawzi Rebaןne with 133,129 votes (0.93 percent) and Mohamed Said with 132,242 votes ( 0.92 percent), Zerhouni added in a news conference.

Despite criticism regarding the fairness of the vote, Coordinator of National Political Commission for Presidential Election Monitoring Mohamed Teguia said that no report on "possible violations" during the poll was sent to the commission. "We have received no report so far by communal or provincial commissions' members on possible violations during the voting operation," Teguia told newsmen in the wake of the meeting held at the commission office. He underlined that the commission heard about violations here and there but there was "no obvious evidence," adding that after inquiring about the matter, "it turned out that it was just idle talk."

© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)