Algeria: 'Former premier Tebboune leads polls'

By Abdel Razek Abdallah and Hamdi Yıldız

ALGIERS (AA) - Algeria's ex-Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune has won the presidential elections after the ouster of longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika eight months ago, according to his communications director.

In a press conference, Mohammed Lakab announced that Tebboune has won the elections with garnering 64 percent of the votes.

Tebboune was the prime minister of the country in May-August 2017.

Other candidates claimed no-one has won in the first round of the vote.

Local media outlets also reported Tebboune leads the polls, citing unofficial results.

Voters have chosen among five candidates who are described as students of the former regime -- because they were involved with Bouteflika’s reign -- at a time when mass protests escalated demanding the departure of symbols of all Bouteflika's regime and a fundamental change in the government system.

Among the candidates was 60-year-old Azzedine Mihoubi -- former culture minister and interim secretary general of the Democratic National Rally -- and the successor to former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia who was convicted on Tuesday on corruption charges.

Algeria has restricted any polls about the elections which were organized for the first time by an independent election authority, instead of the Interior Ministry.

* Writing by Nilay Kar Onum