Low turnout mars Algeria referendum vote

The efforts of the Algerain government to encourage citizens to back constitutional reform have fallen flat, with few people voting in Sunday’s referendum.

The turnout was 23.7 percent, a historic low for a major poll in Algeria.

It deals a blow to government hopes of satisfying the demands of a long-running protest movement with limited reform.

The proposed changes include a two-term limit for both the president and members of parliaments.

But opposition parties had dismissed the plans as not going anywhere near far enough in transforming Algeria’s political culture.