U.S. 'Concerned' Over Algeria Election Results

April 12, 2009 5:48 a.m. EST

Washington, DC (THE MEDIA LINE) - The United States is expressing concern over allegations of fraud in last Thursday's presidential election in Algeria, which Algerian President 'Abd Al-'Aziz Bouteflika won.

Rivals of the newly elected Algerian president are planning to file complaints with the constitutional court and with the United Nations against what they say were violations in the election.

A U.S. State Department official said Washington was aware of the complaints, but added there was no reason to believe the U.S. would not work with Bouteflika during his next term in office, according to news reports.

According to the Algerian Interior Ministry, Bouteflika won a staggering 90 percent of the vote and the turnout was higher than 74%. However, observers in Algeria are casting doubt over the fairness of the elections and accuracy of the results and say the government inflated the turnout figures.

Prior to the elections, analysts anticipated the turnout would be as low as 20% and the main opposition parties called to boycott the election. Organizations opposed to the regime said voters lacked confidence in the government and the system.

Bouteflika hailed the results as a "lesson in democracy."

His candidacy was made possible after his supporters passed a controversial amendment to the constitution last November, which allowed the president to seek a third term in office.

Previously, the president was only allowed to run for two terms.

Critics say the president is seeking to consolidate his power in the North African country and prevent new players from entering the political system.

Arguments in favor of the amendment say that limiting presidential terms deprives the people of the option of reelecting a good leader.

Bouteflika's supporters say if the 72-year-old president remains in power, as he has been since 1999, he will continue the reconstruction of the country, which was devastated in years of violence in the 1990s.

The run-up to the election was clouded by fighting, with several attacks waged by terror groups on security forces over the past couple of years and especially in the past few months.

Most assaults against Algerians have been attributed to members of Al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (QOIM), a reincarnation of the local Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which was formed during the civil war in Algeria in the 1990s.

Algeria is an important ally of the United States in the war against terrorism.

Meanwhile, Morocco is accusing Algeria of breaching an 18-year truce in Western Sahara by accommodating the Polisario Front independence movement.

Around 1,400 supporters of the Polisario Front crossed from Algeria into a closed military zone in Morocco on Saturday, cut the barbed wire and shot in the air, Reuters quoted the Moroccan Foreign Ministry as saying.

Rabat is accusing Algeria and the Polisario Front of foiling efforts to reach a solution to the conflict.

Both Morocco and the Polisario Front claim Western Sahara as their own.

The area was designated a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the U.N. in the 1960s.

A guerilla war between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan army ended with a cease-fire, which has been in place since 1991, but both sides still maintain their claims to the area.

One of the world's most hostile environments, the Western Sahara sits among Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Atlantic.

Morocco annexed the territory after Spain and Mauritania withdrew in the 1970s.