Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will not seek fifth term

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced that he will not seek a fifth term and delayed the 18th of next month's Presidential polls following weeks of protests against his candidacy. 

The announcement was greeted with celebratory hooting of car horns in the streets of Algiers. In a message carried by national news agency APS, the 82-year-old leader said, the elections would follow a national conference on political and constitutional reform to be carried out by the end



of this year. He did not give a date or timeline for the delayed election.

The ailing leader, who has been confined to a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in 2013, said a government reshuffle would also take place.

According to APS, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia resigned yesterday and was replaced by Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui. Ramtane Lamamra was named deputy prime minister, a position that did not exist before.