The head on National Liberation Front, Djamel Ould Abbes, said  on 30 October that Bouteflika would be the party’s candidate in the vote set for April 2019, state news agency APS reported. The FLN central committee will meet soon to formalise the candidacy, Ould Abbes’ chief of staff, Nadir Boulegroune, told AFP news agency. Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in power since 1999 and has last addressed the nation more than six years ago after suffering a stroke in 2013 that confined him to a wheelchair. He will be 87 by the time Algeria’s following elections are held.