Mashnouq Reiterates President to be Elected before Year's End
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq reiterated Tuesday that a new president will be elected before the end of 2016, stressing that al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri is the one who would declare the name of Mustaqbal's presidential candidate in the name of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc.
“The final stance needs some time and Hariri will declare his position at the appropriate moment,” Mashnouq added in remarks to LBCI television.
Hariri has been exploring the possibility of endorsing the presidential nomination of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for several weeks now, amid reservations from large segments of al-Mustaqbal Movement and its parliamentary bloc.
Mustaqbal sources who oppose Aoun's nomination have noted that the recent flurry of optimistic media reports is aimed at “embarrassing Hariri and pushing him to take a quick stance under the threat of holding him responsible for the failure of the current chance if he doesn't complete his rapprochement with Rabieh.”
MP Alain Aoun of the FPM announced Monday that Hariri will announce his endorsement of Aoun “this week.”
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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