Less than half of Algeria’s eligible voters cast a ballot in the country’s presidential poll, preliminary figures from electoral authorities showed early Sunday, despite incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s hopes for a high turnout. Tebboune, 78, is heavily favoured to secure a second term, seeing off moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani, 57, and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche, 41. His main challenge was to increase the voter participation level in Saturday’s vote after a historic abstention rate of over 60 percent in 2019, the year he became president. More than 24 million Algerians were reg…