Sawt Falasteen - Algeria votes as Tebboune eyes easy re-election

Tebboune, 78, is heavily favoured to see off moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche in the race to lead the North African country.

"The winner is known in advance," political commentator Mohamed Hennad posted on Facebook, referring to Tebboune.

Tebboune's opponents stood little chance due to low support and the "conditions in which the electoral campaign took place, which is nothing more than a farce", he wrote.

The incumbent's main challenge is to boost turnout, after winning in 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, amid a record abstention rate of more than 60 percent.

"The president is keen to have a significant turnout," Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center. "It's his main issue."

The low turnout in 2019 followed the Hirak pro-democracy protests, which toppled former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika before they were quashed with ramped-up policing and the jailing of hundreds.

Campaign rallies have struggled to generate enthusiasm in the nation of 45 million, partly due to the summer heat.

More than 800,000 Algerians living abroad have already started voting.

With young people making up over half the population, all candidates are targeting their vote with promises to improve living standards and reduce dependence on hydrocarbons.

Tebboune has touted his economic successes from his first term, including more jobs and higher wages in the country, Africa's largest exporter of natural gas.

His two challengers have vowed to grant Algerians more freedoms.

Aouchiche says he is committed "to release prisoners of conscience through an amnesty and to review unjust laws", including on media and terrorism.

Hassani has advocated for "freedoms that have been reduced to nothing in recent years".

Political analyst Abidi said Tebboune should address the major deficit in political and media freedoms as politics is "absent from the scene", with Algerians having "divorced from current politics" after the Hirak ended.

Five years later, Amnesty International said Algerian authorities were "committed to maintaining a zero-tolerance approach towards dissenting opinions".

Polling stations are set to open at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) and close at 7:00 pm.

Preliminary results could be made public as early as Saturday night, with the electoral authority, ANIE, bound to announce the official results on Sunday at the latest.

G.AbuOdeh--SF-PST