Chamber:
	Al-Majlis Al-Chaabi Al-Watani
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	30 May 2002
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all seats in the National People's Assembly on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	On 25 February 2002, the government announced that voters would be going to the polls on 30 May 2002 to elect all members in the National People's Assembly. These were the second legislative elections since 1991, when general elections were reportedly won by an Islamist party, but the results were cancelled by the army, resulting in a civil war in which an estimated 100,000 people have died to date. While President Abdulaziz Bouteflika had urged Algerians to "vote en masse" during the electoral campaign, pledging that everything would be done to ensure that the elections were a success, some political analysts detected widespread reluctance among voters to cast ballots, as one third of them did not intend to vote. One of the main reasons for this apathy was the violence that marred the electoral campaign. Hours before the voting began, suspected Islamic rebels killed 23 civilians in a village 200 km from the capital. This massacre was the latest in a series of killings of civilians and members of government forces by rebel groups during the weeks leading up to the polls. Another reason was that the elections had been boycotted by five of the main opposition parties and Berber activists. They accused the government of failing to ease frictions in the Berber-speaking region and of planning to rig the vote. Tension in this region was high before the elections. Local leaders called for a general strike two days before the polls and protestors set fire to two schools that were supposed to be used as polling stations. Some 10,052 party members (from 23 political parties) and independent candidates competed for 381 seats (8 more seats were reserved for Algerians residing abroad). With a record low turnout of 46.17 per cent (the lowest since independence in 1962), the former sole ruling party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), won an overall majority, as it secured 199 of the seats at stake. The opposition National Democratic Rally (RND) came in second with 47 seats, down sharply from the 156 in the outgoing legislature. The moderate Islamic parties, the Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP) and the Nahdha Movement, also suffered major losses, securing 38 seats and 1 seat respectively. The Workers Party took 21 seats, a large increase from the previous four seats obtained in 1997. On 10 June 2002, Mr Karim Younes was elected as the new Speaker of the National People's Assembly.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (30 May 2002): Elections results
Number of registered electors	17 951 127
Voters	8 288 536 (46 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	867 669
Valid votes	7 420 867

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Votes	%
National Liberation Front (FLN)	2 618 003	35.28
National Democratic Rally (RND)	610 461	8.23
Movement of the National Renewal (El-Islah)	705 319	9.50
Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP)	523 464	7.05
Workers' Party (PT)	246 770	3.33
Algerian National Front	113 700	1.53
Nahdha Movement	48 132	0.65
Party of Algerian Renewal (PRA)	19 813	0.27
Movement of National Understanding	14 465	0.19
Independents	365 594	4.93

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
National Liberation Front (FLN)	199
National Democratic Rally (RND)	47
Movement of the National Renewal (El-Islah)	43
Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP)	38
Workers' Party (PT)	21
Algerian National Front	8
Nahdha Movement	1
Party of Algerian Renewal (PRA)	1
Movement of National Understanding	1
Independents	30

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	363
Women:	26
Percent of women:	6.68