Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ousted from power in 2019 after massive protests against his desire to run for a new term, died on Friday at the age of 84, state television reported. “Death of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika”, indicated a banner unfolding on national television, which quotes a press release from the Presidency of the Republic.
Since his spectacular fall in April 2019 under pressure from the army and the street, Abdelaziz Bouteflika had remained holed up in solitude in his nursing home in Zeralda, west of Algiers. His fall had become inevitable after weeks of massive demonstrations against his desire to run for a fifth five-year term, after 20 years in power, despite his illness.
Stroke in 2013
Abdelaziz Bouteflika died at “22:00 at his place of residence”, according to the private channel El Hayet TV. Omnipresent in Algerian political life for decades, but become almost invisible since a stroke in 2013, Abdelaziz Bouteflika had given no sign of life since the popular protest movement of the “Hirak” and the army forced him to resign.
That day he had last appeared on television to announce that he was throwing in the towel. He had officially been talked about for the last time when his brother Nacer had voted by proxy in his name for the presidential election of December 12, 2019, which allowed the election of his successor, President Abdelamadjid Tebboune.