France and USA struggle to identify Bouteflika’s successor

Preparatory process for the 2014 Presidential Elections in Algeria, shows that the impact of the next president will not be only on the local actors, but also exceeded to the major countries which are France and America, which express concern over the matter.

Abdelali Rezzagui, doctor of political sciences, thinks that Bouteflika prefered treatment in France and making French officials to spokespersons for his health, and guarantees that are given by President Francois Hollande recently, concerning the organization of the presidential elections on time, and his opposition to organize previews, and ruling out a scenario of chaos after Bouteflika, are sufficient evidence to conclude the French role in determining the identity of the next president of Algeria.

In the opinion of the speaker, as he told Echorouk, the French prefer the former Secretary General of the National Liberation Front, and the former prime minister, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, citing the analytic probe reviews conducted by the French magazine “Jeune Afrique”, which ranked Abdelaziz Belkhadem First in the order of seven proposals that were suggested to succeed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

«The military institution will take into account in the process of picking the successor of Bouteflika, the pressures by major powers, especially the axis of Paris and Washington, which entered with force, each one in its own way, to determine the map of the future of Algeria, through 2014 presidential elections, to safeguard their strategic interests in the region ».

«The military institution, which is the first and last decision maker, began weeks ago in paving the way and sort things out for Bouteflika’s successor. The military institution may go to the option of the current prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, on the grounds that he is closest to the ruling establishment in the country, in addition to being the only notable names that have covered the popular ground, unlike Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who was removed from the head of the Secretariat of FLN party.

In return, the U.S. ambassador to Algiers, Henry Ensher, asserted that Washington is ready and willing to work with any government that is chosen by the Algerian people and work to maintain the stability and development of the Algerian state, including the constitutional institutions and the presidency.

Razzagui said that the American ambassador’s statement is a clear signal from Washington that it is entering the race towards Mouradia, stressing that Washington is making best efforts to determine the future of the political map in Algeria, but indirectly, as is the case for Paris, through civil society organizations, and sites of social networking, calling for a follow-up to the general orientation of these associations across the social networking sites to see the U.S. role and its impact on these associations.

The  Political analyst, asserts that the White House prefers the former prime minister, Ahmed Ben Bitour, on the rest of the names, without providing further clarification about this option.