Algeria will hold parliamentary elections on May 17, an official decree published by the newspaper ElMoudjahid said on Saturday.
The oil-exporting North African country's 380-seat parliament is controlled by the conservative National Liberation Front (FLN), led by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a close ally of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
MPs are elected for a five-year term in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation.
The FLN won 199 seats during the last election in 2002 and is again expected to do well, with Belkhadem continuing as prime minister.
The second was the pro-government Rally for National Democracy (RND) with 47 seats. Both parties are members of a ruling coalition of parties.
Islah, the main opposition party, won 43 seats.
In Algeria the presidency is the most powerful office of state with the prime minister playing the role of coordinator between cabinet and presidency.
Presidential elections are scheduled for April 2009.
OPEC member Algeria plunged into violence in 1992 after the military cancelled legislative elections that a radical Islamic party was set to win.
An estimated 200,000 people were killed in subsequent violence.
{{/usCountry}}An estimated 200,000 people were killed in subsequent violence.
{{/usCountry}}Bouteflika, in a move to turn the page of the conflict, offered a partial amnesty to Islamist insurgents in 2006 and freed over 2000 militants from prison.
But sporadic violence continues, mainly in the Kabylie region east of Algiers.