Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Abdelaziz BouteflikaReuters

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is preparing to announce his resignation in accordance with article 102 of the constitution, Reuters reported Sunday, citing the local Ennahar TV.

Under the article, a constitutional council can declare Bouteflika unfit for office or he can resign himself.

Bouteflika could announce his resignation on Tuesday, the private station said, citing political sources.

The 82-year-old president has faced more than a month of mass protests against his presidency. In mid-March, he announced he would be dropping his bid for a fifth term in office and scrapped the elections altogether following the protests.

Bouteflika at the time vowed "to hand over the duties and prerogatives of the president of the republic to the successor freely chosen by the Algerian people," but gave no date for new elections.

Algeria was one of the countries to be hit by protests during the so-called “Arab Spring” in 2011, and hundreds were arrested by riot police as they called for the Bouteflika’s resignation.

Bouteflika subsequently lifted a state of emergency that was imposed in 1992, as Islamist militants waged war over the government's decision to ignore elections that gave a majority to a Muslim party.

Although credited with helping foster peace after Algeria's decade-long civil war, Bouteflika has faced criticism for alleged authoritarianism. He became president in 1999, and has clung on to power despite his ill health.

He was elected for a fourth term in April 2014 with 81.5 percent of the vote, despite not campaigning.