A Last Stand for Algeria's President

Not four months ago, the seventy-six-year-old Bouteflika was fighting for his life in a Parisian hospital after suffering a debilitating stroke, while his political career was pronounced dead by most Algerians. Not one to forgive, Bouteflika has wasted no time in identifying and sidelining anyone who prematurely plotted to fill his shoes during his absence. In September, he implemented Algeria's largest cabinet reshuffle since 1990, replacing the interior, foreign, and justice ministers with his close allies. Bouteflika appointed the previous foreign minister Mourad Medelci to President of the Constitutional Council. The Council, together with Interior and Justice Ministries, comprises the three bodies that will oversee the country's first post–Arab Spring presidential elections in April 2014.