ALGIERS, Algeria, April 10 (UPI) -- International observers praised this week's Algerian presidential election Saturday, which was won by incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
A monitor from the European security organization OSCE, Bruce George, said the election's result -- in which Bouteflika was re-elected with 83 percent of the vote -- was clearly a fair outcome based on the desires of the Algerian people, the BBC reported Saturday. But Bouteflika's main rival, former Prime Minister Ali Benflis, claimed "massive fraud," as did other candidates. Benflis, who took just 8 percent of votes, said he would appeal the result.
"We do not recognize these results," he said. "There's been massive fraud nationwide.We'll be taking our complaints to the Constitutional Court."
However, Western diplomats in the region said the poll seems to be the fairest election held since multi-party politics was introduced to Algeria in 1989. The election was monitored by some 120 international observers.
