Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s mental and cognitive faculties are intact and he will continue to govern the nation, ruling National Liberation Front Party (FLN) Chairman Amar Saadani said on Friday, in comments aimed at quashing rumors over the aging leader’s health.
Bouteflika, 78, suffered a stroke last year that put him into a French hospital for months and fueled speculation over whether the former independence fighter would step down and make way for a transition in the north African state.
The president has been seen only rarely in public since, usually appearing on state television meeting foreign dignitaries. He has been to a Paris clinic for checkups since his illness, and French government sources said Bouteflika had been admitted to a Grenoble hospital last month.
RE-ELECTION
He won re-election for a fourth term this year, but several Algerian opposition parties have demanded an early presidential election, citing Bouteflika’s poor health.
“The president’s motor skills are reduced because of the neurological accident, but he leads the country with his mental faculties and cognitive abilities and those are intact,” Saadani told reporters on Friday.
“I understand some in the opposition are impatient; I understand also that they are in hurry, but the Algerian people voted for Bouteflika [this year] knowing his motor skills were reduced,” Saadani said in a written response to questions.
RESHUFFLE?
Analysts have been expecting a government reshuffle to take place soon, including the naming of a new prime minister and key Cabinet posts.
Saadani said he hoped the new prime minister would come from the FLN ranks.
Any changes in the leadership are closely watched, particularly now with global oil prices dropping to levels that have started to fuel debate within a government that relies heavily on energy revenues for social spending.
Its high spending on social programs and memories of a 1990s war left many wary of stoking unrest, helping the nation, a gas supplier to Europe, avoid the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that hit its neighbors.
Nonetheless, strikes and riots happen on a daily basis, mainly calling for pay rises, housing and better living conditions.
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