Salam Says he is Aspiring to End Baabda Vacuum but Pessimistic

Prime Minister Tammam Salam ruled out the election of a new president soon although he said his utmost ambition was to see a head of state at Baabda Palace.

Salam told An Nahar daily published on Monday that no president will likely be elected during the Feb. 8 session.

“Things have gone back to square one,” he said, adding “the crisis is ongoing.”

He reiterated that only a compromise candidate would be able to rule the country at this difficult stage.

Last month, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea withdrew from the presidential race and backed his long-time rival Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun.

Geagea's move came several weeks after al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri struck a deal with Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh to back him for the presidency in return for Hariri to return to Lebanon and become prime minister.

The candidacies of Aoun and Franjieh led to severe divisions among the rival factions, making it almost impossible for one of them to garner the majority in parliament.

Lebanon has been without a president since 2014.

In his remarks to An Nahar, Salam said that he is seeking to distance the government from the differences among the different factions.

But he lamented that all measures aimed at managing the people's affairs are being subjected to the division of shares among the political parties.

Since the end of President Michel Suleiman's term in May 2014, the parliament has been paralyzed and the cabinet's functions crippled.

The government has only meet three times since September last year.