ALGIERS: Algerian voters looked set to hand the ruling FLN and its allies another five-year mandate in a parliamentary election on Thursday overshadowed by low oil prices and concerns over the health of the country's elderly president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The National Liberation Front (FLN), that has dominated the country's political scene since Algeria gained independence from France in 1962, and its coalition ally the Rally for National Democracy (RND), led by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's senior adviser Ahmed Ouyahia, have a large majority of seats in the two houses. I think if we get out and we have an opportunity to exercise our right to vote that is also having you’re voice heard,”said voter Saunders Ramsey. In the 2012 election, the FLN won 221 seats and the RND 70 seats by playing the stability and security card following the 2011 Arab Spring revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Turnout has often been low, registering 43.14 percent in 2012 — slightly higher than the 35.65 percent recorded in 2007. Many Algerians still see Bouteflika as a symbol of continuity, but more than half of the population is under 30 and many young people say they have little connection to the historical rhetoric of their country's aging leadership. Government officials say they want to reform the costly subsidy system but they promise to maintain key benefits that have helped Algeria weather social tensions in the past - including during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Voter turnout is predicted to be low as Algerians go to the polls to elect members of the People's National Assembly.