International

Absolute majority

ALGIERS: Algeria's former ruling party won an absolute majority of seats in parliamentary elections boycotted by key Opposition parties and marred by ethnic Berber unrest, according to final results released on Friday. The Interior Minister, Noureddine Zerhouni, said the National Liberation Front, which ruled a single-party state for nearly 30 years, won 199 of 389 seats in Thursday's poll to elect a new lower House of Parliament. The turnout at 46.09 per cent, including expatriates, was a record low since first multi-party elections in 1990 in a country which has been rocked by a brutal Islamic insurgency for a decade. Four Opposition parties, including the pro-Berber Socialist Forces Front and the Rally for Culture and Democracy, boycotted the vote, as did ethnic Berbers living in the volatile Kabylie region, scene of large anti-Government protests for the past year. — Reuters

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