Algeria ruling party turns its back on Bouteflika, says he is 'history'

Algeria'srulingFLNpartyshowed more signs of turningitsbackon AbdelazizBouteflikaas new protests against him began on Friday, with one seniorparty figure saying in an interview overnight thelong-serving president was 'history now'.

Bouteflikahas reversed a decision to stand for another term after mass protests against his rule but stopped short of stepping down and sayshewill stay on until a new constitution is adopted.Hehas been losing allies in recent days since returning from medical treatment in Switzerland.

Theremarks by Hocine Kheldoun to Ennahar television late on Thursday were another major setbackBouteflika, who hoped to pacifyAlgerians by promising to take steps to change thepolitical landscape dominated by thepresident and therulingelite for decades.

Kheldoun, a former spokesman for therulingparty, became one of themost senior FLN officials to break withBouteflikapublicly.Hesaid thepartyhad to look forward and support theaims of demonstrators protesting againstBouteflika.

On Friday, thousands of protesters gathered in central Algiers to keep pressingBouteflikato step down.

'FLN goes,'some shouted amid aheavy police presence across thecapital. Demonstrations have been peaceful.

"Those who think we are tired are wrong. Our protests will not stop," said doctor Madjid Benzida, 37.

TheFLN holds themajority in all elected assemblies, including parliament and local city councils.

Tens of thousands ofAlgerians have staged protests for weeks demanding a new era with younger leaders who would offer greater social freedoms and prosperity.

Bouteflika, 82, has been in office for 20 years but rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. Theprotesters sayheis no longer in a fit state to rule.

"GAME OVER"

A former minister who is familiar withBouteflika's inner circle told Reuters that thepresident could not survive given thepressure building against him.

“Game over.Bouteflikahas no choice but to quit now," theformer minister said on condition of anonymity.

More mass protests are expected on Friday in theearly afternoon after prayers.

ManyAlgerians say that theailing president and other veterans of the1954-1962 war of independence against France should hand over power to young technocrats who can focus on unemployment, poor services and stamping out corruption.

Themilitary, which has traditionally played a behind-the-scenes power broker role, has distanceditself fromBouteflikaand stayed initsbarracks throughout thecrisis. It is expected to retain influence under all scenarios.

Algeriawas relatively untouched when the2011 "Arab Spring" uprisings swept away veteran autocrats in theArab world.Bouteflikaand his allies, effective manipulators of the opposition, managed to avoid major unrest by spending oil money on thepopulation.

Bouteflikawas credited with ending a civil war against Islamist insurgents in which tens of thousands of people were killed in the1990s, and manyAlgerians long acceptedthe heavy-handed rule as theprice of stability.

But thepublic has turned out onto thestreets angry at deteriorating economic conditions and therulingparty's failure to make thetransition to a new generation of leaders despite thepresident's failinghealth.