Officials announced an 85 percent turnout rate, a massive endorsement of the new President's program by a war-weary electorate of some 17.5 million.

The overwhelming majority of those who voted had clearly cast a "yes" vote, while the nay-sayers largely shunned the referendum, according to informal exit polls, street interviews and Opposition statements.

The referendum was a test of Bouteflika's "civil reconciliation" program, the cornerstone of which is a law granting full or partial amnesty to Islamic militants who surrender, as long as they are not guilty of "blood crimes" or rape. Some 300 militants have already surrendered under the amnesty law, which expires on January 13.

A mood of forgiveness was apparent among many voters who have harbored bitterness and vengeful feelings over the brutality suffered at the hands of theIslamic extremists.

"If I have to stifle my pain so that my country can find peace and get back to development, I will do so," said a young man at a polling station in Bentalha, a poor district on the outskirts of the capital where more than 550 people were killed in two separate massacres in 1997.

The vote is also widely viewed as a means of legitimising Bouteflika's presidency, won in April at an election marred by the last-minute withdrawal of six rivals charging fraud.

The question put in the referendum was: "Do you support the general plan of the President of the republic to bring about peace and civil reconciliation?"

"I can't say `no' to peace," one voter said, adding: "I didn't vote in the presidential election in April, but this is different." Some Algiers residents voiced skepticism and fear over the referendum.

A cashier who requested anonymity said: "It's just been so much blah-blah so far. All Algerians want peace."

Another resident said: "I don't think it's going to last. We'restarting to be afraid of going back to single-party rule." He said he had voted in order to be counted, in case a future totalitarian regime identifies him as someone who shunned his patriotic duty.

"Is it a true peace, based on good principles, or is it a peace that suits certain people?," he asked.

Algeria's brutal civil war broke out in 1992 after the military stepped in to prevent the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) from establishing an Islamic state.

The FIS had won the first round of a general election, and was about to clinch victory in the second-round of voting. Since then, Islamic extremists' terror tactics have included bombing schools and buses, slitting people's throats or eviscerating them, and widespread rape.

For their part, the security forces have shown little mercy in rounding up suspected Islamic extremists and incarcerating or summarily executing them.

The Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights estimates that 18,000 people have gone missing in the conflict.