ALGIERS, 3 November (BelTA - Xinhua) - The head of the Algerian Independent National Elections Authority for Elections, Mohamed Charfi, on Monday announced that the amended constitution voted through popular referendum on Sunday has been approved with a rate of 66.8 percent.
Charfi told a press conference that the total number of voters reached 5.6 million out of 24.4 million eligible voters, which constituted a turnout of 23.7 percent.
He specified that the number of "Yes" votes reached more than 3.3 million, or 66.8 percent of the total number.
Charfi further assumed that the results of the referendum "are correct from legal and constitutional point of view."
He concluded that the referendum's turnout is "proof of the people's support for change ahead of building up a new Algeria, in which the people will have its word to say, as it has already been done in Sunday's referendum."
This constitutional amendment is the eighth since the North African nation's independence in 1962.
The newly approved constitution includes a couple of controversial articles, including the possibility, for the first time in the history of Algeria, to send troops abroad to support UN peacekeeping missions.
