Election of Military-Backed Leader in Algeria Sparks Clashes

Protests broke out in the Algerian capital and two other cities Friday after army favorite Abdelaziz Bouteflika was declared president in an election so besmirched by fraud charges that his six competitors quit the race.

Clashes erupted in Algiers after the announcement that Bouteflika had won Thursday’s election. Witnesses said police in full riot gear charged into hundreds of anti-Bouteflika demonstrators in the capital.

Riot police stood guard as demonstrators marched, and a water cannon was at the ready in a main square. Police arrested at least 10 people, and there were unconfirmed reports that several people were injured.

Thousands of other people demonstrated in the eastern cities of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia.

Officials said that Bouteflika took 73% of the vote and that turnout was 60.25% of eligible voters. His six opponents withdrew on the eve of the election, claiming massive fraud in early voting.

The election had been seen as a first step toward healing the wounds caused when the army aborted legislative elections in 1992 to prevent a Muslim fundamentalist party from winning. Outrage at that move fueled an Islamic insurgency that has left 75,000 dead and traumatized the nation.

The vote instead resulted in bitter divisions.

“The Algerian people have expressed themselves and elected me democratically,” Bouteflika said in a statement. “I commit myself to being the president of all Algerians.”

However, his former opponents said they considered Bouteflika “devoid of constitutional legitimacy.”

Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, his strongest rival in the race, said both the official turnout and results were false.

“The democratic process has taken a severe hit,” he said in a statement. “The nation is living a new crisis of constitutional legitimacy.”

Ibrahimi was backed by the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front, the party that had been poised to win the 1992 election until the military halted voting.

The United States expressed disappointment with the election.

“The elections in Algeria might have represented a clear step forward on the path to democracy and political reform,” State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said. “We are clearly disappointed by the events of recent days.”

Bouteflika, 63, becomes the country’s sixth president and first civilian leader since 1965, replacing President Liamine Zeroual, a retired general stepping down 18 months before the end of his term.

Bouteflika, the No. 2 man under President Houari Boumedienne in the 1970s, had broad support from the political elite that has dominated Algeria since its independence in 1962.