Minister: 23% turnout in Algeria poll as of 2pm

Algerian Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz said around 23.25 percent of eligibleAlgerian voters had shown up to cast ballots in the country's presidential electionsas of 2p.m. local time Thursday.Algerians headed to the polls since the early hours of the day to vote in theelections, in which incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika – along with five othercandidates – is vying for the country's highest office.  "We have information that the number of voters will increase in the afternoon," saidBelaiz.Nearly 23 million Algerians are eligible to vote in the polls, monitored by more than300 foreign observers from the Arab League, the Organization of IslamicCooperation, the African Union and the United Nations.Bouteflika is widely expected to win a fourth term as president.Algerian politician arrested while monitoring pollsAlgerian opposition figure Ali Belhadj was arrested on Thursday while following uppresidential polls capital Algiers, his office has announced.Security forces stopped Belhadj's car and detained him "without any legal basis ashe toured polling centers" in the capital, according to a statement by his office.Belhadj is a former vice president of the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party,which was outlawed by the Algerian judiciary for "inciting violence" afterperforming unexpectedly well in the first round of the 1992 polls.Algerian authorities have yet to comment on Belhadj's reported arrest.The FIS had announced plans to boycott Thursday's poll, arguing that the ballotingwould be rigged in favor of incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, who is currently running for a fourth term in office.Nearly 23 million Algerians are eligible to vote in Thursday's election, in which sixcandidates will vie for top office.Bouteflika, who cast his ballot from a wheelchair on Thursday, is widely expected towin a fourth term as president, despite concerns about his health and oppositioncalls for a new head of state.Thursday's vote is being monitored by more than 300 foreign observers dispatchedby the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union andthe United Nations.