Bouteflika eyes new or extended mandate

ALGIERS: Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s sweeping cabinet changes and a rumored purge of the military intelligence services indicate Algeria’s ailing president will run for re-election or extend his term, politicians and newspapers say.
This month’s reshuffle replaced a third of Algeria’s ministers, a bold political move by the 76-year-old president, who returned home in July after spending nearly three months in France recovering from a mini-stroke.
It bred speculation that Bouteflika, in power since 1999, is tightening his control over the succession process, despite assumptions that his chronic health problems would rule him out of next year’s election.
Comments to the press by his allies suggest the president may indeed seek a fourth term in office.
Ammar Saidani, new leader of the ruling National Liberation Front, said the party was behind the president “if he wanted to extend his mandate or stand again.”
Bouteflika himself has not discounted possible re-election. And the idea of a two-year extension to his existing mandate, which would require an amendment to the constitution similar to one in 2008 that cleared the way for his third term, has been circulating in the press.