Algeria's ruling FLN picks Bouteflika as presidential candidate

Algeria's ruling party FLN has picked President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as its candidate for the April 18 presidential election, party leader Moad Bouchareb said on Saturday.

Bouteflika, 81, who has been in office since 1999 and rarely been in public since suffering a stroke in 2013 that confined him to a wheelchair, will be seeking a fifth term.

He will still need to make a formal announcement, probably in a letter that will be read on his behalf, before March 3.