Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has reportedly submitted official papers confirming he will seek re-election, despite mass protests against the move.
There was no official confirmation, but state news agency APS published his asset declaration on Sunday, which is a formal requirement to run in the election.
Tens of thousands of protesters had been rallying throughout the day in cities around Algeria to call for Bouteflika to step down.
Algerian protesters chanted slogans outside the Constitutional Council building, in Algiers. Source: AAP
Numbers were approaching the levels of Friday when demonstrators filled the centre of the capital Algiers in one of the biggest outpourings of dissent - rare in Algeria - since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Opponents of Bouteflika, 82 and in shaky health for years, say he is no longer fit to lead, citing his poor health and what they call chronic corruption and a lack of economic reforms to tackle high unemployment that exceeds 25 per cent among people under the age of 30.
Analysts say the protesters, who began hitting the streets 10 days ago, lack leadership and organisation in a country still dominated by veterans, like Bouteflika, of the 1954-62 independence war against France.
A demonstrator holds up a sign that reads, 'no to a 5th term' during a protest in southern France. Source: AAP
The government has played on fears among many Algerians of a return of bloodshed seen in the 1990s when an estimated 200,000 people were killed after Islamists took up arms when the military cancelled elections they were poised to win.
But the new series of protests have been generally peaceful, apart from Friday when scuffles with police left 183 injured.
Thousands of students gathered on Sunday at university faculties, one of them near the Constitutional Council where presidential candidates filed their papers, chanting: "No to a fifth term!" or "A free and democratic Algeria!"
There was heavy security around the Constitutional Council, and police prevented restive students from leaving the campus nearby, keeping the main gates shut.
