A new candidate for the Algerian presidency

Former Algerian Prime Minister Sayed Ahmad Ghazali has decided to nominate himself for the early presidential elections to be held in April 1999.

A source close to al-Ghazali said on Tuesday that he will officially announce his nomination within the coming days in a press conference he will hold in the capital, Algiers, and will "submit a progressive political, economic and social program, which will be open on all sides."

Ghazali held the office of the prime minister from June 1991 until February 1992 during a period which witnessed the canceled victory of the banned Islamic Salvation Front of the first session of the parliamentary elections which were held in December 1991.

Ghazali told the Algerian daily al-Watan on Tuesday that, "If objective conditions are provided, they will have a real opportunity to succeed."