FLN abandons Bouteflika in Algeria

The head of the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s own National Liberation Front has said that the party now supports the popular movement in Algeria.

The 82-year-old leader had bowed to demonstrators last week by reversing a decision to stand for a fifth term, but he postponed polls due in April until the implementation of political reforms.

More than a dozen of Algeria’s most influential trade unions have turned down an invitation by the newly appointed prime minister to hold talks aimed at forming a new government and ending a crisis.

Many protesters ironically noted that they had asked for elections without Bouteflika, but had been offered Bouteflika, but not elections.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom reports.