ALGIERS - Polls opened in Algeria on
Thursday for a delayed presidential election that is opposed by
a mass protest movement which wants the vote put off until the
entire ruling elite steps down and the military quits politics.
The army, the strongest political player, sees the vote as
the only way to restore order in Africa's largest country, a
major natural gas supplier to Europe and home to 40 million
people.
Early in the morning, it was quiet at one central Algiers
polling station, though police were patrolling the city's
streets on foot and in vehicles.
"The country has entered a critical phase," said Aziz
Djibali, 56, who went to vote at a polling station near the
prime minister's office.
"It's time for Algerians to voice their opinions
peacefully."
However, demonstrators at the huge protests that have roiled
Algiers and other major cities for almost 10 months have sworn
they will boycott Thursday's vote, which they see as a charade
designed to keep the existing ruling elite in place.
The five men on the ballot are all former senior officials,
including two former prime ministers and two former government
ministers, who, protesters believe, are unlikely to challenge
the army's political primacy.
Protests helped oust veteran president Abdelaziz Bouteflika
in April, and forced the authorities to twice delay an election
previously scheduled for April and July.
However, powerful army chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed
Salah has insisted the vote now go ahead as the only way to
restore legitimacy to the government and end the standoff
between protesters and the state.