Algeria denies reports on Bouteflika’s re-election plan

By Abdul Razzaq bin Abdullah

ALGIERS (AA) – The Algerian Presidency on Sunday denied that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was planning to run for a fifth term in office.

Local media said that Bouteflika had said during a meeting with a prominent human rights activist that he was planning to seek a new term in office.

“We categorically deny reports about this meeting and consider its content a mere fabrication,” the Presidency said in a statement.

Activist Farouq Qusantini earlier said in a TV interview that he met with the Algerian president last week during which he unveiled his intention to run for a fifth term in office.

"I sensed his great desire to run for a fifth term, and this is his own right and we back him," said Qusantini.

The ruling National Liberation Front party said in several occasions that its candidate for the presidential elections, scheduled for the first half of 2019, is the current president, "unless he rejects."

Bouteflika, 81, suffered a stroke in April 2013, which made him unable to move and deliver speeches, although he appears on state television from time to time while meeting state officials and foreign guests.

Bouteflika was first elected Algerian president in 1999. He won his fourth term in office in April 2014.

His supporters say that despite his difficult health status, Bouteflika is "following all the state affairs," something rejected by the Algerian opposition.