Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will most probably win a fifth term in the rule, observers said.
The likelihood increased after the influential employers’ bloc joined the partisan and professional unions bloc in calling for the president to run for a fifth term.
The Algerian Forum for the Heads of Enterprises (CFE) held a meeting for its executive council on Wednesday during which it called on Bouteflika to “continue his accomplishment by running for the 2019 presidential elections.”
“We declare our full involvement in the roadmap, which was outlined by the President, calling for mobilizing all the material and human resources to achieve economic prosperity and confront the financial crisis,” the Forum said.
The Forum spoke of the president’s “sacrifices for Algeria.”
In 2014, Bouteflika had described his candidacy for the presidency as a “sacrifice from him” after the people had urged him to run, despite his poor health.
Observers believe that the same scenario is likely to take place again in a few months.
The Forum is headed by Ali Haddad, who is one of Algeria’s richest businessmen.
He is known for funding all Bouteflika’s election campaigns.
