Issues in the campaign included a desire for domestic stability after the bloody civil war of the 1990s,[2] the state of the economy (30% unemployment),[2] the frail health of 77-year-old president Abdelaziz Bouteflika who had been in power for fifteen years, and whose speech was "slurred and inaudible" in his only public outing during the campaign,[2] and the less-than-wholehearted support given the president by the normally united and discrete ruling class.

[10] On 22 March, about 5,000 people rallied in Algiers for a boycott due to Bouteflika seeking another term and called for reforms to the political system.

[11] A movement called Barakat expressed rejection of a fourth term for Abdelaziz Bouteflika, opposed the nature of the elections, and has organized protests demanding a new political order.

[16] However, incidents of violence were recorded as groups of youths in the Berber-dominated Kabylie's Bouira region ransacked voting centres in Raffour, M'Chedellah and Saharij just after they opened at 7:00, with riot police then firing tear gas at them.

In Raffour, masked and armed youths with slings chanted hostile slogans and confronted the police were firing tear gas.

[19] Benflis told his supporters at his headquarters that due to the scale of the alleged fraud and irregularities: "Our history will remember this date as a great crime against the nation by stealing the voice of the citizens and blocking popular will."