ALGIERS —Algerians voted on Thursday, April 17, in an election President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is expected to win after 15 years in power, despite speaking only rarely in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.

With the dominant National Liberation Front (FLN) party, allied movements and unions behind him, many Algerians believe Bouteflika, 77, is almost assured of victory and another five years governing the North African state.

Appearing in public for one of the few times since his illness, Bouteflika voted sitting in a wheelchair in Algiers’ El Biar district. He did not give any statement and briefly shook hands with supporters before leaving.

But concerns about Bouteflika’s health and how Algeria manages any transition have raised questions about stability in a region where neighboring Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are still in turmoil after the Arab Spring revolts of 2011.

“No country is 100 percent good, but the things he has done, he has done well,” said Abdessaid Said, a retired technician who voted for Bouteflika in Algiers’ Bab El Oued district.

“I know he is ill, but I vote for him for what he has done for us. And he can still govern.”

Voting passed mostly peacefully. But in two villages east of Algiers, gendarmerie troops fired tear gas and clashed with youths who were protesting against the vote.

Several ballot boxes were burned in the area, which is a stronghold of an opposition party boycotting the election and also a mostly ethnic Berber-speaking region that sees sporadic clashes with authorities.