FILE - In this May 4, 2017 file photo, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika prepares to vote in Algiers. Algeria's powerful army chief promises that a presidential election on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 will define the contours of a new era for a nation where the highest office has stood vacant for eight months. The tenacious pro-democracy movement which forced leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign after 20 years in power doesn't trust the confident claim and is boycotting the vote. (AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub, File)