ALGIERS // Campaigning for Algeria’s April 17 presidential election began on Sunday amid mounting criticism Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid a fourth consecutive term despite concerns over his health.
The president rejected such concerns in a message to the nation Saturday, insisting he was fit to govern and had decided to run in answer to persistent calls from Algerians.
“The difficulties linked to my health do not appear to disqualify me in your eyes or plead in favour of me giving up the heavy responsibilities which have, in part, affected my health,” APS news agency quoted him as saying.
Mr Bouteflika’s campaign chief, the former prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal, promised yesterday that constitutional changes would create a “broad democracy” if the ailing incumbent wins re-election.
Mr Sellal gave scant details of the long-promised changes as he opened the re-election campaign with a speech in the southern desert town of Adrar.
He is one of six senior regime figures who fanned out across the country to campaign on behalf of the president.
Mr Bouteflika will square off against five other presidential hopefuls, including one woman, Louisa Hanoune, and key challenger Ali Benflis, and is widely expected to win.
Mr Benflis has urged Algerians to vote in large number and make their voices heard to combat what many in the opposition believe are going to be rigged polls.
Mr Sellal was closely involved in the 2004 and 2009 campaigns that returned the president to power, and has travelled across Algeria in past months to play up Mr Bouteflika’s track record.
That record has come under heavy criticism in Algeria, where politicians, the military and civil society groups have expressed opposition to Mr Bouteflika’s re-election.
The opposition says his rule has been dogged by corruption, while protests and calls for the fall of the government have multiplied.
Former president Liamine Zeroual has joined the chorus of dissent and slammed the 2008 amended constitution that allowed Mr Bouteflika to win a third term.
On Friday, thousands attended a meeting convened to urge a boycott of the vote, and dozens of people demonstrated the next day to call for the fall of the government.
Mr Bouteflika’s website was inaccessible yesterday as his camp reported a cyber attack.
Another website, El-Watan2014, set up for the presidential election, said the message “Ali Benflis will be our future president” had appeared on the site before it was taken down.
Anger has mounted since Mr Bouteflika, looking frail and his voice barely audible, appeared on state television on March 3 to announce that he was seeking a fourth term.
It was the first time he had spoken in public in two years. He suffered a mini-stroke in April last year and spent three months in a hospital in Paris. Since his return , the president has chaired just two cabinet meetings and only rarely appeared in public.
Supporters of Mr Bouteflika, who helped end Algeria’s devastating civil war in the 1990s, say the president represents stability.
In his message on Saturday, Mr Bouteflika said he decided to stand in the election in response to overwhelming calls from his supporters.
“It would grieve me to ignore your calls and that is why I decided, so as not to disappoint you, to stand in the presidential election and turn all my energy towards meeting your desires,” he said
Campaigning ends on April 13.
* Agence France-Presse