Algeria’s ailing 82-year old president wants a fifth term

ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA started his campaign for a fifth term as Algeria’s president by promising not to finish it. The ailing ruler, who turned 82 this month, is not even in the country. An associate filed the papers for his candidacy while Mr Bouteflika lay in a hospital bed in Geneva. For two weeks Algerians have been protesting against his decision to run. The largest rally, on March 1st, drew tens of thousands of people. In a letter read on state television, Mr Bouteflika acknowledged their cri de cœur. If re-elected he vowed to call a new presidential vote—and not to contest it.

Such promises are by now something of a cliché in the Arab world. Hosni Mubarak and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the deposed leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, offered in vain to stand down later if protesters went home. Algerians were similarly unimpressed by the offer. Protests have continued. Mr Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since a stroke in 2013. In rare videos from official events he appears hunched over in a wheelchair, seemingly unable to speak. That such an invalid could rule the country, even for another year, strikes many of his citizens as an insult. “Respect the dead. Bury him, don’t elect him,” quips one placard seen at the demonstrations.