Opposition Leads as Count Starts in Algerian Election : North Africa: Islamic fundamentalists hail early returns putting them ahead of the ruling party in National Assembly vote.

Islamic fundamentalists began celebrating outside polling places across the country Thursday as early unofficial returns showed them pulling ahead of the ruling National Liberation Front in the nation’s first free elections for the National Assembly since independence in 1962.

As the polls closed in this city’s teeming popular quarters, members of the Islamic Salvation Front shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great!) in the streets, while women uttered the piercing trill that is the classic Arab sound of joy.

Though no official returns were released before midnight Thursday, unofficial results from Algerian Radio throughout the night showed the Islamic Front ahead of the ruling party in a number of precincts, especially in urban areas such as Algiers and Constantine, where the Muslim fundamentalists are strongest.

The National Front was, nonetheless, expected to make a strong showing in the southern desert and elsewhere, forcing contests for most seats in Parliament into a runoff set for Jan. 16.

The Islamic Front is trying to capitalize on disillusionment with the party that led Algeria’s bloody guerrilla war for freedom from France to turn what has historically been a bastion of socialism and radical politics in North Africa into the region’s first freely elected Islamic state.

Algeria’s largely Europeanized bourgeoisie has fought against the Islamic tide, and the Socialist Forces Front, a party representing the non-Arab Berber population, also made a strong showing in early unofficial returns.

With 49 parties vying for seats in the country’s 430-seat National Assembly, many Algerians have appeared dizzied by the sudden dose of democracy, and only a little more than half the country’s 13.3 million eligible voters turned out to cast ballots.

Many analysts had predicted that a low turnout would benefit the Islamic Front, and early unofficial returns reported by state radio showed that front substantially ahead of the National Front. The Islamic Front led by a 6-to-1 margin in some districts of the cities of Algiers and Constantine. Last year, the Islamic Front captured 55% of the vote in municipal elections, making its strongest showing in these urban districts.

A spokeswoman for the Women’s Assn. of Algiers said Thursday night that early returns “give me an ache in the stomach. Our future is not rosy.”

But Sheik Mahfoud Nahnah, chief of Hamas, an Islamic party considered more moderate than the Islamic Front, said he is “satisfied that Algeria seems to be getting over the phase of one-party rule.”

A total of 5,712 candidates are competing for the National Assembly, which has been made up solely of National Front representatives since 1962. President Chadli Bendjedid has pledged to hold presidential elections before the end of 1993. “What’s happening in Algeria will influence the African continent and the Arab world,” Prime Minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali said shortly before the polls closed.