Algeria's Bouteflika seeks third term as president

By Lamine Chikhi.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika launched a long-anticipated bid for a third term in office on Thursday and promised $150 billion to help the north African country recover from a decade-long civil conflict.

Bouteflika, in power since 1999, has overseen Algeria's gradual recovery from an undeclared civil war that raged through most of the 1990s.

Few weighty opponents have emerged as challengers and he is widely tipped to win April elections and stay in power to 2014.

"I announce my candidature as an independent," Bouteflika, 71, told thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in central Algiers. "The people have the right to choose in all freedom."

Parliament last year scrapped a ruling limiting presidents to two terms. Anti-Bouteflika Islamists and secularists greeted the constitutional change with dismay and one opponent complained of a coup in disguise.

Supporters say Bouteflika deserves the continued trust of the people for having put Algeria back on the path to stability.

But apathy towards politics is widespread and many ordinary Algerians say the country will still be ruled by the same tight-knit political elite, whatever the outcome of the polls.

"Top opponents saw the constitutional change ... as a direct sign of support from the decision makers to Bouteflika," said university professor Mohamed Lakab. "This is why they have decided to boycott -- they thought it was 'game over'."