Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will resign before his mandate expires on April 28, his office said, after a succession of loyalists deserted him in the face of massive protests.
The 82-year-old, who has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke, has been clinging to power as pressure mounted for weeks over attempts to prolong his 20-year rule.
Algeria has been rocked by huge protests since the veteran president announced in February that he was seeking a fifth term in office. Under the constitution, once his resignation is tendered, the speaker of Algeria’s upper house of parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, would act as interim leader for up to 90 days during which a presidential election must be organised.
The authorities did not say who was being targeted by the new investigations into corruption and illegal money transfers abroad, but they followed the arrest of the president’s key backer, businessman Ali Haddad. The statement on Bouteflika’s impending resignation came after he named a new government made up mainly of technocrats under recently appointed premier Noureddine Bedoui.
Algerian media outlets were awash with speculation that the announcement of the new government would pave the way for Bouteflika’s resignation.
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