Bouteflika, 76, in fray for 4th term

(MENAFN-Arab News) ALGIERS: Ailing 76-year-old Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will stand for reelection to a fourth term in April, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said in comments carried by national television Saturday

?The prime minister officially announces the candidacy of the president of the republic for the coming elections? on April 17, a screen caption read

Sellal was speaking in Oran, west of Algiers, on the sidelines of an economic seminar

The television channel said Bouteflika will collect the necessary candidacy documents from the interior ministry on Sunday, but added that he might send someone else to pick them up in his place

The broadcaster said Bouteflika?s decision was his ?response to the encouragement of citizens from all over the country.

Bouteflika, who has been in power for 15 years, suffered a mini-stroke last year that confined him to a Paris hospital for three months

It had been unclear whether his health would prevent him from standing again.