ALGIERS, March 11 (Reuters) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will not run for a fifth term, the presidency said on Monday after weeks of protests calling for the ailing leader to step down.

The presidency also announced the postponement of a presidential election which had been planned for April.

A government reshuffle would take place soon, the presidency said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of people from all social classes have been demonstrating almost daily against Bouteflika's decision to stand in the election, rejecting a stale political system dominated by veterans of an independence war against France that ended in 1962. Bouteflika has ruled for 20 years. (Reporting by Lamine Chkhi; Writing by Michael Georgy) </s> ALGIERS, Algeria — The Latest on the political situation and protests in Algeria (all times local):

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced a delay to next month's presidential election and is bowing to unprecedented public protests and promising not to seek a fifth term.

After 20 years in power, Bouteflika announced the dramatic move Monday in a letter to the Algerian people released by his office. He is promising an interim leadership structure to plan new elections, and says he will not seek to run again.

Bouteflika, who is 82, has barely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke. He has faced unprecedented protests in recent weeks demanding that he abandon plans to seek another term.

Algerian workers are holding scattered walkouts and students are gathering for protests as their tense nation waits to see whether ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika offers any concessions in the face of unprecedented protests.

Algerian media and protest leaders expect Monday to be a decisive day for the gas-rich North African country, after Bouteflika returned home Sunday from two weeks in a Swiss hospital.

His absence saw mounting, massive demonstrations demanding that he withdraw his candidacy for a fifth term in next month's election.

Security is high Monday in Algiers, where some businesses are shuttered by strikes and high school and university students are planning protest-related activity.

Algerians have hardly seen Bouteflika since he suffered a stroke in 2013, and anger has mounted at the country's secretive power structure. </s> Abdelaziz Bouteflika has officially notified the president of the country's Constitutional Council about the decision to end up his term as the President of the Republic.

Article 102 suggests that a president suffering from a serious long-term illness is unable to fulfill his responsibilities, so, in this case, the Constitutional Council, after verification, can ask the parliament to consider vacating the presidency.

READ MORE: Over 70 Protesters Reportedly Detained, 11 Policemen Injured in Algeria (VIDEOS)

The resignation comes amid nationwide rallies as people went out on the streets to protest against Bouteflika's intention to run for the fifth term in the upcoming presidential election. Reacting on the protests, Bouteflika said that he would not run for a new term and postponed the election, but a new date has not been set yet. </s> Algeria’s army chief of staff has demanded President Abdelaziz Bouteflika be declared unfit to rule after weeks of protests against him.

“We must find a way out of this crisis immediately, within the constitutional framework,” Lt Gen Ahmed Gaed Salah said in a televised speech.

The president has already agreed not to stand for a fifth term in upcoming elections, which have been delayed. But demonstrators accused him of a ploy to prolong his 20-year rule. -BBC </s> Algeria’s army chief renewed a call for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to be declared unfit for office and told opponents not to seek to undermine the military, after weeks of protests demanding an end to the ailing leader’s 20-year rule. Bouteflika, 82, who has rarely been seen in public in recent years, has faced mass demonstrations for more than a month. His announcement that he would not seek a fifth term but that he would not quit immediately has failed to assuage protesters. To break the stalemate, Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah made a proposal on Tuesday for the constitutional council declare Bouteflika unfit for office, a move provided for under article 102 of the charter. </s> Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has resigned after weeks of mass protests, the state news agency APS reports.

Mr Bouteflika, who had been in power for 20 years, had already dropped plans to seek a fifth term as opposition to his rule grew. The powerful Algerian army had called for the 82-year-old to be declared incapable of carrying out his duties. He suffered a stroke six years ago and has rarely appeared in public since. -Via BBC </s> ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Thousands of Algerians are demonstrating in the major cities of the oil-rich North African country, demanding the resignation of ailing, 82-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The number of protesters was much smaller than predicted by organizers, however, as rain appeared to dampen attendance on the fifth straight Friday since nationwide anti-Bouteflika protests began on Feb. 22.

Families joined professionals and students in the central squares of Algiers, the capital, holding signs reading “Get Out, Bouteflika” and “No Mandate Extension.”

Bouteflika last week indefinitely postponed April’s national election and overhauled the government. While he abandoned his bid for a fifth term in office, his simultaneous postponement of the election has critics worried that he intends to hold on to power indefinitely. He has been president since 1999.

Bouteflika, badly weakened by a 2013 stroke, has remained an enigma, with very few public appearances. The president returned earlier this month after two weeks in a Geneva hospital, but the exact state of his health is unclear.

Workers at Sonatrach, the national oil company whose executives are close to Bouteflika, held a symbolic sit-in Thursday in solidarity with the protests that span all sections of society.

New Prime Minister Nourredine Bedoui has promised to create a new cabinet within days to respond to the demands of Algeria’s demonstrators. Yet, Bedoui is still struggling to form a government, with many potential candidates seeking to keep their distance from the unpopular president. </s> Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the target of intense and prolonged protests, will step down before April 28, state media report, citing a message sent from the president's office.

The 82-year-old leader had said he planned to run for a fifth term — angering thousands of people who churned in Algeria's streets — before reversing that decision. But when he announced he had changed his mind, Bouteflika also delayed an election that had been set for this month, stoking fears that he indeed would cling to power.

Now, Bouteflika's office says, the government will enter a new "transition" phase, the Algeria Press Service reports. News of Bouteflika's plan to leave office comes a day after he appointed a new government of 27 ministers, headed by Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.

The state-run agency quotes a "communiqué of the presidency" saying:

"The appointment of the new government on March 31st 2019 by his Excellency Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Republic will be followed by important decisions he would take in accordance with the Constitutional Provisions, in order to ensure the continuity of the functioning of the State institutions during the transition period which will start on the date of the announcement of the resignation.

"The resignation of the president of the Republic would occur before 28 April 2019, the date marking the term expiry."

The seismic shifts emanating from Bouteflika's office over the past month have prompted critics to question the legality of the president's decision to unilaterally postpone national elections.

Bouteflika has been in power since 1999 but has been largely absent from the public eye after suffering a stroke in 2013. Rather than attending public events, the president was often represented at government events by only a framed portrait of him.

Critics also have have accused members of Bouteflika's party and the military of using the president as a figurehead to maintain their grip on power. Bouteflika's party, the National Liberation Front, has dominated Algeria's politics since the country gained independence from France in 1962.

When Bouteflika bowed to protests last month and revoked his candidacy, the move was met with muted celebrations among opposition parties — particularly because he postponed a presidential election that had been slated for April 18. His pledge also stopped short of meeting protesters' demands that he leave office immediately. Demonstrators have accused Bouteflika of leading an unresponsive government that allows corruption to prosper while the national economy stagnates.

Last month, as the elderly leader laid his plans to exit the presidency, he also announced a national conference that would review possible reforms for Algeria's political system. That conference will produce a draft constitution subject to a popular referendum, he said, adding that the body should "strive" to complete its work by the end of the year. </s> ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, announced Monday that he is dropping his bid for a fifth term in office, a surprise move following weeks of protests against his candidacy.

“Peacefully, we have overthrown the puppet!” people sang in the streets of the capital, Algiers, following the announcement.

Celebratory honking of car horns rang out in the city center, which was deserted by police after they had deployed in large numbers earlier in the day.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

“There will not be a fifth term,” Bouteflika said in a message carried by the official APS news agency, while suggesting that he would remain in office until his term expires on April 28.

“There will be no presidential election on April 18,” the veteran leader said, adding that he was responding to “a pressing demand that you have many of you have made to me.”

He vowed “to hand over the duties and prerogatives of the president of the republic to the successor freely chosen by the Algerian people.”

The announcement was followed by the naming of interior minister Noureddine Bedoui as prime minister in place of Ahmed Ouyahia, according to APS.

Bouteflika, whose rare public appearances since he suffered a stroke in 2013 have been in a wheelchair, returned to Algeria on Sunday after spending two weeks at a hospital in Switzerland.

Demonstrations against his bid for another term brought tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets for each of the last three Fridays, with smaller demonstrations taking place on other days.

“France expresses its hope that a new dynamic that can answer the deep aspirations of the Algerian people will rapidly take hold,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.

Lawyers across Algeria joined strike action on Monday against Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office, demanding the Constitutional Council reject his candidacy on grounds of “incapacity” to carry out the role.

Bouteflika’s return from Geneva came as protest strikes Sunday shut down the capital’s public transport system and many schools across the vast country.

The 82-year-old leader had left Algeria on February 24 for what the presidency described as “routine medical checks.”

Since the outbreak of protests last month, Algeria’s army chief, Ahmed Gaid Salah, has pledged to guarantee national security and criticized those he said want to return to the “painful years” of the civil war of the 1990s.

Bouteflika became president in 1999 and he has clung to power despite his ill health.

Dubbed Boutef by Algerians, he had helped foster peace after the decade-long civil war, but he also faced criticism for alleged authoritarianism.

When the Arab Spring uprisings erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, Bouteflika’s regime smothered dissent and played on fears of a repeat of Algeria’s civil war.

His government lifted a 19-year state of emergency, granted pay rises, and announced piecemeal political reforms.

But those reforms, announced in “a climate of fear,” were shelved once the situation was brought under control, a European diplomat said.

Little by little, Bouteflika returned the regime to its authoritarian ways.

He was elected for a fourth term in April 2014 with 81.5 percent of the vote, despite not campaigning.

Bouteflika has a history of medical problems and has often flown to France or Switzerland for treatment.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says he will postpone the country's elections next month, and will not seek a fifth term in office.