Sour and prickly

摘要

As election day drew to a close last week, the narrow streets of Algeria's capital erupted. Young men draped in flags hung out of car windows or dodged traffic on their scooters, hooting as they went. But this was no celebration of democracy. An Algerian football team, Entente Setif, had just won the Arab club cup, causing nationwide excitement. By contrast, barely one in three Algerians had bothered to vote in the general election that day. Many polling stations were all but deserted. In one, an election official was fast asleep on a pile of ballot papers.