Amid serious doubts over official turnout figures, the Algerian government yesterday claimed an overwhelming 97 per cent approval in Thursday's referendum on "peace and reconciliation" aimed at consolidating the country's return to stability.

No independent monitoring of the vote count was allowed. However, human rights groups and some local journalists said the official turnout figure of nearly 80 per cent bore little resemblance to reality. They warned that alleged electoral fraud would antagonise those who suffered most during the civil war in the 1990s, and expressed fears that Algeria was marching back towards autocracy.