23/03/2014
Campaigning starts in Algeria election likely to re-elect Bouteflika
By Patrick Markey ALGIERS (Reuters) - Campaigning for Algeria#39;s election opened on Sunday with the man expected to win, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, starting his race not with a speech or a mass rally, but with a letter. With questions lingering about the state of his health after a stroke last year, Bouteflika, 77, began his campaign writing to Algerians to say his condition would not stop him extending his 15 years governing the North African state. Backed by the Front de Liberation Nationale party, which has dominated Algerian politics since independence in 1962, and with major opposition parties boycotting the vote, Bouteflika is almost assured of another 5-year term. Loyalists...
