Algerians Go To Polls, Despite Death Threats Military-Installed Leader Predicted To Win

Defying death threats by Islamic insurgents, Algerians streamed to heavily guarded polling stations Thursday for their first multiparty presidential election since independence in 1962.

Opposition parties boycotted the election.

Gunfire crackled through Algiers shortly after midnight. It was unclear whether security forces were clashing with rebels or candidates’ supporters were celebrating. The military-installed president, Liamine Zeroual, was favored to win the election.

State radio and television made no mention of clashes Thursday, and there were no reports of attacks by the insurgents, who went to war when Algeria’s military canceled 1992 elections and installed Zeroual, a former general, as president.

The war has killed 40,000 people and violence has spread across the Mediterranean to France, Algeria’s former colonial power. Militants angry at French support for the government have claimed responsibility for some of the bombings that have killed seven people since midsummer.

On Thursday, Algerians living in France voted at heavily guarded sites in Paris and other cities.

State television reported late Thursday night that 74.5 percent of Algeria’s 16 million eligible voters had gone to the polls by the time they closed at 8 p.m. The Interior Ministry had kept polling stations open until 10 p.m. in Algiers and three other major cities to accommodate the crowds of voters.

Authorities had said they would announce results by late Thursday night, but had not done so by early today.

However, state television reported early today that based on its exit polls, at least 58 percent had voted for Zeroual, with the other three candidates sharing the rest. It didn’t indicate how many polling stations were involved in the estimate.

If no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held Dec. 15.

The most significant party missing from the election was the Islamic Salvation Front, a religious party that had been expected to win the 1992 election. The army has banned the party and jailed its leaders, who sought to rule according to strict Islamic law.

Zeroual hoped that a high turnout would validate the election despite the boycott. The parties that refused to participate received 80 percent of the vote in the 1992 balloting.