From International Press: Despite Stroke, Algerian Leader Says He’ll Run for Re-Election

New York Times. 24 Fev 2014

Algeria’s ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been largely incapacitated since a stroke last year, intends to run for a fourth term in an election scheduled for April 17, Algerian officials announced Sunday.

The announcement ended months of speculation about the leadership of Algeria, one of the most important countries in North Africa, a region in upheaval as it deals with political changes inspired by the Arab Spring as well as the spread of terrorism.

Mr. Bouteflika, who at 76 has governed Algeria for 15 years, has not appeared in public since spending three months in a French hospital after a stroke in April. His cabinet ministers, and occasional visitors, insist that his mind is unaffected and that his health is improving, but he has not addressed the nation in 18 months and has only been shown on state television sitting down.

Nevertheless, he has shown a tenacity during his convalescence, managing to replace a number of cabinet ministers and regional officials, even removing high-level members of the powerful intelligence service. Analysts have interpreted the moves as an effort to consolidate support around him for his re-election campaign.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal announced Mr. Bouteflika’s candidacy at a news conference in the western city of Oran on Sunday, The Associated Press reported. The news was later confirmed by state television.

Since a devastating civil war in the 1990s, Algeria has been guided by a tightly controlled state, dominated by the army and intelligence forces. Political parties and social movements are given limited freedom to operate, and social tensions are defused by a mixture of police control and payments from the state.

Yet as controls over the printed news media have loosened and political parties have been allowed to operate, criticism has grown against the president and his aging circle, a generation of leaders who have ruled Algeria since it won its independence from France in 1962. Several independent candidates who are calling for change have announced their intention to run for president, but few expect the election to be free and fair.

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