"I am convalescing." "It will take another one, two or three weeks for me to regain my physical strength," President Abdelmadjid Tebboune states in a video posted on social networks and picked up by national television.

Visibly thinner, but with a steady voice, the head of state specifies that he is following daily what is happening in the country. And providing – when necessary – instructions to the presidency.

Since his evacuation to Germany on October 28, no image had been shown of the 75-year-old Algerian president. And more than 6 weeks of hospitalization due to Covid were enough to fuel rumors about his state of health.

Officially, Abdelmadjid Tebboune still holds the reins of state. But political uncertainty has pushed some to call for the application of an article of the Constitution relating to the vacancy of power, in order to avoid a constitutional crisis.

His absence has indeed revived the specter of vacancy following the multiple hospitalizations abroad of his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika.