Hollande’s era will better than Sarkozy’s, says Algerian politicians

The political scene in Algeria is divided on the future prospects of the diplomatic ties between Algeria and France following the victory of the socialist François Hollande in the presidential elections over the incumbent president Nicholas Sarkozy.

• While some consider the coming into power of Hollande a good sign likely to foster and strengthen the relationships between the two countries, others consider that the Algerian authorities should deal with their French counterparts with more inflexibility.

• The leader of the Algerian Front Abdelkader Drihem refuses to bound the relationships to the outcomes of the presidential elections every five years “ The relationships between Algeria and France should be based on mutual respect regardless of the leader that comes into power”, he said.

• He has further indicated “ If the Algerian authorities are really sovereign , they have to oblige their French counterparts to deal with them on an equal footing, otherwise the situation will not change even with Hollande in office”.

• For his part , the leading figure in the National Liberation Front Abderrehman Belayat is looking forward for fulfilling Hollande’s promises he made when he paid a visit to Algeria in his quality as the leader of t he French socialist party.

• To recall, François Hollande has acknowledged that French colonialism should be condemned, in response to a question asked by the party’s SG Abdelaziz Belkhadem.