Anxieties about the ability of Algeria’s ailing president to still lead the country were publicly exposed last week when a group of 19 well-known figures (many of them friends and former colleagues of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika), published an open letter requesting that they be allowed an audience with the head of state.

As Algeria Politics & Security reports, there is a sense that much of the president’s power is now being wielded by close adherents in a way that the constitution does not regulate.

The Group of 19, as they have become known, believes that many of the president’s recent decision could not have been made by him, because they seem contrary to his character.

The clear failure of the letter to reach the president, and the refusal of any such audience, has provided more evidence to fuel fears that Bouteflika is no longer able to run the every-day affairs of the state.

Those with significant influence now include the president’s younger brother Saïd Bouteflika, the Army Chief of Staff General Ahmad Gaïd Salah, FLN party leader Amar Saâdani, businessman Ali Haddad, and perhaps a few others.

These are not nationally popular figures, but they are Bouteflika-family loyalists. It appears as though these notables were uncomfortable about the lack of accountability, and growing power, of these men.

The letter requesting an audience with Bouteflika was dated symbolically as 1 November (an anniversary of the beginning of Algeria’s war for independence), and was reportedly delivered to the president’s Chief of Staff, Ahmed Ouyahia as well as his private secretary Mohamed Rougab.

The signatories are respected household names in Algeria, many with international reputations. A full list of them is available to subscribers of Algeria Politics & Security.

The first attempts to diminish the impact of the Group of 19 have come primarily from Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and FLN party leader Amar Saâdani. Both sought to discredit the signatories, while asserting that the president remained in full control of both his faculties and the country.

But a there are dangers ahead of the Algerian state, as its three main poles – the presidency, army, and DRS – are being run by political placeholders with questionable abilities.

The army, once in the hands of respected men such as Khaled Nezzar and Mohamed Lamari, is now under the control of Gaïd Salah, who our sources suggest is disliked by many of his peers and lower ranking officers.

Control of the DRS has now passed from General Mediène to a Athman Tartag, who has a questionable reputation from the civil war years and is seen as a political appointee rather than a dedicated intelligence strategist.

As for the head of state, the office of the president it is now effectively vacant and the exact processes or people who participate in decision-making are unclear. That situation is unsustainable, as the country needs to act decisively in response to the threat to its economy posed by low oil and gas prices.