Election officials were on Thursday evening counting ballots in Algeria’s contentious presidential elections.

The country has been leaderless since former leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to resign in April.

Results were not likely until Friday, to be announced by a newly created National Independent Electoral Authority overseeing the voting.

The elections were marred with violence between police and protesters who fear the elections will perpetuate a corruption-ridden system with military oversight that they are trying to bring to an end.

The country’s powerful army chief — who orchestrated the elections and set the date — promised the vote would chart the course to a new era in the gas-rich nation, a strategic partner of the West in countering extremist violence.

(Source: AP)