[3] On 26 March 2019, after months of unrelenting anti-Bouteflika protests, Gaid Salah compelled President Bouteflika to resign.

[4] The president handed over his resignation under intense public pressure after having announced that he was seeking reelection for a fifth term.

Instead, General Gaid Salah said that only a presidential election could bring the country out of its political crisis.

[6] Gaid Salah suffered a heart attack on the morning of 23 December 2019 and was rushed to a military hospital in Algiers, where he died a few hours later.

[7][8][9] His last public appearance was four days earlier when he received the National Order of Merit from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.