Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was expected to win a fourth term despite his poor health when official results are announced Friday after a vote marred by low turnout and allegations of "massive" fraud.

The results are to be unveiled in the afternoon by Interior Minister Tayib Belaiz, but Bouteflika's supporters were certain of victory and celebrated in the streets of the capital Algiers after polls closed Thursday.

In a village scarred by one of the bloodiest massacres of Algeria's civil war in the 1990s, residents turned out for Thursday's presidential election to vote for "peace, that's all".

The military-backed government's decision to cancel elections in 1991 that Islamists were poised to win sparked a decade of bloodshed, and the violence of the 1990s is never far from Algerians' minds.

Clashes erupted in Algeria's restive Kabylie region between security forces and youths opposed to Thursday's presidential election, leaving around 40 people wounded, local sources said.

Separate groups of youths seeking to disrupt voting in the Bouria region, southeast of Algiers, ransacked polling stations in three localities shortly after they opened at 0700 GMT, with the police firing to disperse them.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, seeking a fourth presidential term, cast his ballot from a wheelchair Thursday as Algerians voted in an election he is widely expected to win despite chronic health problems.

In his first public appearance in two years, a smiling Bouteflika arrived at a polling station in El Biar district of Algiers and waved but made no comment to reporters covering an election tainted by fraud warnings and boycott calls.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has criticized Algerian authorities over delays in issuing visas for foreign journalists to cover the country's presidential election on Thursday.

Many journalists were "issued visas late in the day accompanied by drastic restrictions", the Paris-based group said in a statement issued on the eve of polling.

Algerians are weighing their options for Thursday's presidential election, with ailing Abdelaziz Bouteflika urging a large turnout as he seeks a fourth term amid boycott demands and warnings of fraud.

More than 260,000 police have deployed to guarantee security in the 50,000 polling booths set up to accommodate the 23 million Algerians eligible to vote in the race being contested by six candidates.

Presidential hopeful Ali Benflis said Tuesday that thousands of his supporters would monitor Algeria's election, vowing to protest if it is rigged in favor of ailing incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is seeking re-election.

Benflis is seen as the president's main rival, and has repeatedly warned of fraud during the election campaign, describing it as his "main adversary" in Thursday's vote.

Algerian nomads began voting Monday for the April 17 presidential election at 167 mobile polling stations in the country's vast desert interior, the authorities said.

The process began in Ouargla, Illizi, Tamanrasset and Tindouf, the national APS news agency reported, adding that about 90,000 voters were able to cast their ballots 72 hours before the rest of the country.

Amnesty International accused the authorities in Algeria on Monday of silencing critics and stepping up curbs on freedom of expression in the run-up to its presidential election this week.

"Mounting curbs on freedom of expression in the run-up to Algeria's upcoming elections underscore disturbing shortcomings in the country's overall human rights record," it said.

Campaigning for Thursday's presidential election in Algeria ends Sunday after incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika accused his only real rival of inciting violence and Ali Benflis warned about polling day fraud.

The 77-year-old Bouteflika, despite ailing health and not even appearing in person on the campaign trail, remains favorite to win a fourth term in the April 17 vote in the North African nation.