Bouteflika gets massive public backing: by all accounts, Algeria's presidential election last month was above board and incumbent leader Bouteflika's huge majority was a strong demonstration of public confidence in him. Has Algeria found stability at last? James Badcock reports.

Extract

---

Bouteflika gets massive public backing: by all accounts, Algeria's presidential election last month was above board and incumbent leader Bouteflika's huge majority was a strong demonstration of public confidence in him. Has Algeria found stability at last? James Badcock reports.

In the run-up to the presidential elections in Algeria on April 8 the main story was not what the different candidates might do for the country, but that the election had not been decided in advance. Six candidates, including the incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, campaigned in unprecedented circumstances of apparent freedom and an atmosphere of unpredictability. It came as a pleasant surprise, then, when in such com...

See the full content of this document

---