Benflis asks for French support

Sources from the General Secretariat of the ruling Socialist Party in France told Echorouk that the party does not yet decide about the possibility of supporting the candidates who will run for the coming Presidential Elections in Algeria because the party does not have enough data about them.

General Secretariat did not deny a connection of some of the most prominent leaders of the party with one of the most prominent potential candidates, Ali Benflis, former Secretary General of the National Liberation Front, during his visit to France last October in order to conduct some medical tests in an ophthalmology clinic in Paris.

Concerning the meeting’s content, the media official in the French ruling party refused to give any details for Echorouk, saying that the informal meetings cannot be discussed with the media, adding that the Socialist Party adheres with its political customs with respect for Algeria’s internal policy.

“I constantly listen to the political readings of my political partners in Algeria in the Socialist Forces Front, and we share the same ideological principles, as they are often matching with the positions of the Socialist Party like FFS”.

“The ruling party in France does not necessarily take the same positions of the French government, on the grounds that government is bound by the general policy of the French Republic, which represents all the political forces, including the opposition. Therefore, I think that the decision to support one of the candidates in the upcoming elections in Algeria has not yet been taken at the level of either the government or even the party. Our party supports any future candidate who could gain internal consensus in Algeria”.

Despite the reservations that were expressed by the Socialist Party in talk about the meeting which took place in France between Ali Benflis, and some party, but the general attitude of the ruling party tends implicitly to support Benflis.

France relies too much on economic cooperation with Algeria through increasing the investment opportunities of major French companies which suffer from a weak growth in light of the deteriorating general economic conditions in France, as it wishes Algeria would make amendments on the current Investment Law, which does not allow foreign companies to own shares that exceed 49%.