Algeria's President To Run For 3rd Term In April -Report

ALGIERS (AFP)--Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will run for a third term in elections in April, the leader of Algeria's nationalist party said Friday, according to local media.

National Liberation Front (FLN) chief Abdelaziz Belkhadem told Chaine III radio that Bouteflika, in power for 10 years, would run again, but declined to give an exact date of any official announcement, the APS news agency reported.

Bouteflika, 71, would make an announcement once the country's electoral council meets, Belkhadem said.

The electoral council is required by law to meet no later than 60 days before any election.

Although no exact date has been announced, the election is set for April.

The Rally for Culture and Democracy, a secular opposition party, announced Thursday that it would not field a candidate in the election, which its leader, Said Sadi, slammed as "a pathetic and dangerous circus."

Algeria's parliament voted Nov. 12 to abolish the mandatory limit of two presidential terms.

Candidates who wish to contest the presidential elections in Algeria must garner at least 600 signatures from elected officials and 75,000 from voters.

Bouteflika's ruling coalition enjoys a comfortable majority in the Algerian parliament.