Count under way in Algeria parliamentary elections

Algerians voted Saturday for a new parliament in an election with a majority of novice independent candidates running under new rules meant to erase political corruption and open the way to a "new Algeria." But the turnout was dismal.

At a local polling station in Algiers late Saturday, voting station employees tipped a few dozen ballot papers out from the largely empty urn -- 22 ballots had been cast out of 212, and some of them were void.

Tension surrounded the voting in the gas-rich North African nation with activists and opposition parties boycotting and a crackdown on weekly marches by the Hirak protest movement all but banned under new rules for demonstrations.

Pressure from Hirak marchers forced former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in 2019 after two decades in office, a time marked by rampant political and financial corruption, unemployment and repression.

With the poll still open, the electoral authority said in its latest report that under 14.5% of the 24 million voters had cast ballots.

Some regions, notably in Kabylie, a bastion of opposition east of the Algerian capital, the turnout was under 1%.

Scuffles with police were reported in some towns in the region and some voting stations were vandalised.

The early election is supposed to exemplify President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's "new Algeria," with an emphasis on young candidates and those outside the political elite.

A huge number of candidates — more than 20,000 — were running for the 407-seat legislature, once dominated by a two-party alliance considered unlikely to maintain its grip on parliament. Islamist parties all offered candidates.

It's the first legislative election since Boutflika was forced out.

Tebboune was elected eight months later, vowing to remake Africa's largest country but with no sign of abandoning the shadowy role of the army in governance.