( CNN ) -- Incumbent leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won a third term in office after a landslide victory in Algeria 's presidential election , media reports said Friday . Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrives to cast his vote at a school in Algiers . Bouteflika 's victory came despite calls from his political opponents for voters to boycott the polls . They claim the election was a charade , with the other presidential candidates -- from left-wing parties to Islamists -- standing no real chance . The 72-year-old was elected with over 90 percent of the vote , Reuters.com quoted the official in charge of organizing Thursday 's presidential election as saying . `` Bouteflika has won ... 90.24 percent of the votes cast , '' Interior Minister Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni told a news conference . Algerian lawmakers , most of them loyal to the president , cleared the way for him to stand for re-election last year by abolishing constitutional term limits . Critics said that would allow him to serve as president-for-life . Supporters of Bouteflika say he deserves credit for steering the North African country , an oil and gas producer , back to stability after a bloody civil conflict in the 1990s that killed an estimated 150,000 people . But critics say he is using the threat of renewed violence from Islamic militants to mask the country 's deepening economic problems . `` I continue to regard the restoration of civil peace as a national priority , as long as hotbeds of tension and pockets of subversion survive , '' Bouteflika , running for a third term , said in his final campaign speech on Monday , Reuters.com reported . He has also promised to spend $ 150 billion on development projects and create 3 million jobs , his remedy for an economy in which energy accounts for about 96 percent of exports but where other sectors have been choked by red tape and under-investment .
Bouteflika , 72 , win third term comfortably with 90 percent of vote . - May : Political opponents claim vote was a charade . Algeria is fighting an Islamic insurgency and an ailing economy .