Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said on Sunday he would seek a fifth term in a presidential election set for April 18, the state news agency APS reported on Sunday, putting an end to months of uncertainty caused by his poor health. Bouteflika’s announcement came a day after the ruling FLN party picked him as its official presidential candidate. Bouteflika remains popular with many Algerians, who credit him with ending the country’s long civil war by offering an amnesty to former Islamist fighters. Would-be candidate Salah Kemmach wants to run because he was born the day that former President Houari Boumediene died in 1978. Bouteflika won the 2014 election with 81 percent of the vote despite not even appearing in his own campaign.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 11, 2019 07:30 UTC