In Algeria, several newspapers covered the French presidential election on Sunday, including the daily Freedom, who called the poll a“major national event”, not only for France, but also for some countries “like Algeria”.
“The French presidential election also and above all looks at the […] countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean […]. Geography, history, immigration, economic and security cooperation are all issues that make the double electoral appointment […] is just as important as a major national event for countries like Algeria.”
The newspaper notes however a major difference, with regard to Algeria, between the campaign of this year and those which preceded it.
“Traditionally, serious candidates stop in Algeria to sound out public opinion and, possibly, forge ties […] with the aim of facilitating post-electoral exchanges […]. This time, neither the French candidates expressed the wish to go to Algiers nor did Algiers express the wish to receive them.
The fate of the “cold war” between Algiers and Paris
According to Freedom, this is due “to the cold that has settled between the two capitals” in recent years, as well as “Algerian Hirak [mouvement de contestation] and [à] the post-Bouteflika political evolution, [qui] questioned the nature of relations between the two countries”.
“A kind of ‘cold war’ dominates the reports. Cooperation is like jelly. We have to wait for the outcome of the second round to probably see the warming of relations.
The rapprochement between Paris and Algiers, which supports Moscow in its war against Ukraine, will also depend on “the evolution of the Ukrainian crisis, which will undoubtedly reshape international geopolitics [et] will have an impact on relationships” between the two countries, concludes the newspaper.