But the technique was to be improved upon by the next elections for the Algerian Assembly and the National Assembly, in 1951. At Djelfa neither the M.T.L.D. nor U.D.M.A. collected a single vote; while the government candidate managed to tot up 800 — out of 500 eligible voters! At Port-Gueydon 23,671 votes were cast; 23,645 registered for the government candidate. As a result, the opponents of the regime were reduced in Algiers to no more than seven or eight; in Paris the M.T.L.D. and U.D.M.A. between them were deprived of every single representative — including Ferhat Abbas.

FICTION: The absurd margins (800 votes from 500 electors; 23,645 of 23,671 votes) offer vivid detail for any story about rigged systems or the mechanics of authoritarian control.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 218