Iran Press/Africa: In Algeria, the presidential candidate Abdelmadjid Tebboune leads the election. Algeria's ex-Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune has majority of votes in the presidential elections after the ouster of longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika eight months ago, according to his communications director, as reported by Anadolu agency.
In a press conference, Mohammed Lakab announced that Tebboune has a lead in the elections with garnering 64 percent of the votes.
It was announced that Tebbun received half of the votes alone in 35 of the 48 provinces in the country. The other candidates argued that the second round of elections, the first round no one won.
The military as the strongest political player claims that the vote is the only way to restore order in Algeria, Africa’s largest country. The country, with a population of 40 million people, is a major natural gas supplier to Europe.
All 61,000 polling stations around the North African country opened as planned. No opinion polls have been published, but some observers expect an extremely low turnout nationwide.
In recent weeks, opposition protesters have marched more frequently and demonstrated against candidates by hanging bags of garbage in public spaces reserved for electioneering. Meanwhile, the government has sought to appease protester anger over corruption, arresting dozens of senior officials and former officials and businessmen, many of them associated with Bouteflika, and sentencing some to long prison terms. 101/219
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