Algerian president chairs council of ministers meeting

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose state of health is the subject of numerous speculations, chaired the third Council of Ministers of meeting of the year on Wednesday.

The Finance Bill 2019 was the main item on the agenda of the meeting. Local media showed images of the president at the meeting with his government.

Since suffering a stroke in 2013, the president’s public appearances have been limited. He no longer speaks in public and makes only rare appearances outside his medical home.

He also appears from time to time on state television, especially when he receives foreign dignitaries, most recently on the occasion of the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 17 September.

Elected to office in 1999, the president’s supporters, as well as executives from his National Liberation Front party, have called on him to run for a fifth consecutive term in a presidential vote scheduled for 2019.

He has yet to announce whether he will run for office.