Algeria: President Bouteflika drops fifth term bid

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has postponed the 18 April presidential elections and said he will not seek a fifth term in office. President Bouteflika’s candidacy had provoked mass protests across Algeria. He has led Algeria for 20 years but was rarely seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013. No new date for […]

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has postponed the 18 April presidential elections and said he will not seek a fifth term in office.

President Bouteflika’s candidacy had provoked mass protests across Algeria. He has led Algeria for 20 years but was rarely seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013.

No new date for the election was set. Mr Bouteflika said a cabinet reshuffle would take place soon.

The announcement came a day after the president, 82, returned home after a two-week stay in a Swiss hospital.

“There will be no fifth term,” he said in a statement. “There was never any question of it for me. Given my state of health and age, my last duty towards the Algerian people was contributing to the foundation of a new Republic.”