Retired army General Ali Ghediri Saturday announced his intent to run for the 2019 Presidential elections, becoming therefore the first candidate for the much-awaited elections amid national puzzle whether incumbent and ailing leader Abdelazziz Bouteflika will be competing again for the top job, for the fifth time. Ali Benflis said he sent, on Sunday (January 20), to the Minister of the Interior a letter announcing his “intention to constitute a candidature file for the election to the Presidency of the Republic”. In 2003, he became the general secretary of the National Liberation Front party. Benflis ran for the 2004 and 2014 presidential elections, that were both won by Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Announcing his candidacy Saturday, retired army General Ali Ghediri, 64, told the local media he decided to take up ”this major challenge… which involves questioning, without any taboos, the established order.”Ghediri retired in 2015.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 21, 2019 13:07 UTC