‘Algeria PM to quit to run Bouteflika election campaign’

ALGIERS — Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal will resign on Thursday to become campaign director for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ageing independence leader who is running for re-election, a source close to the presidency said on Wednesday.

Bouteflika, 77, registered his candidacy for the April 17 vote last week, one of the few times he has spoken in public since suffering a stroke last year that has raised opposition questions about his ability to govern.

Sellal will be replaced as premier by Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi, the source told Reuters.

Backed by the National Liberation Front Party and the army, Bouteflika is almost assured five more years in power. But his rare appearances have generated doubts about his health and about what happens if he is too sick to rule.

Sellal himself was the first to announce Bouteflika would run again, but did little to ease questions about the president’s health when he said he would not need to campaign himself because there were plenty who could do that for him.