Africa20:52 11.03.2019(updated 21:21 11.03.2019) Get short URL
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Algeria has recently been rocked by protests against the incumbent 82-year-old president’s intention to run for another term, despite being wheelchair-bound and serving at the post for about two decades.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced that the upcoming presidential elections would be postponed, adding that he will not run for a fifth term. He promised to set up an interim body that will oversee the organisation of new elections. A new date for the elections was not specified in his address.
At the same time, the cabinet, including Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, announced their resignation amid the wave of popular protests.
Algerians have been protesting since 22 February following Bouteflika’s announcement that he would run in the 18 April election. Amid the rallies, Bouteflika, who suffered a stroke in 2013 and has since been bound to a wheelchair, pledged that if he is re-elected, to call snap vote in which he wouldn’t participate as a candidate in order to ensure a transition to a new president.
Bouteflika has been in power for 20 years, but has rarely been seen in public since he suffered the stroke.
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Sourse: sputniknews.com
