 ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelaziz Boutleflika won almost unanimous support for his controversial plans aimed at ending years of violence in the north African country, referendum results showed Friday. More than 97 percent of voters said 'yes' to the president's Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni told a news conference. Turnout was 79.76 percent. Just 2.64 percent of them voted against the charter, the minister added. The president's plans provide for an effective amnesty for many of the Islamic extremists who rose up in 1992 to protest the sudden cancellation of elections the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win. The party was subsequently banned. But critics complain the charter grants impunity to the security services also engaged in the ensuing violence that has claimed some 150,000 lives.
| I guess the critics are the 2.64 percent, huh? |
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