Report: Algeria's president to seek 4th term in office despite health issues

ALGIERS, Algeria – Algeria's prime minister has announced that ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will run for a fourth term in April elections.

The official APS news agency quoted Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal as saying on Saturday the 76-year-old Bouteflika will be a contender in the April 17 presidential vote.

Bouteflika has a huge contingent of supporters who have been pushing for him to declare his candidacy, notably his powerful party, the National Liberation Front which had ruled Algeria single-handedly for nearly three decades. But the president has remained silent. In fact, he hasn't addressed the nation since a stroke last April.

Doubts have been raised about whether he is physically robust enough to get through another five-year term.