Hariri Meets Jumblat: Presidential Post for All Christians, All Lebanese

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri held talks Friday evening with Democratic Gathering chief MP Walid Jumblat in Clemenceau, stressing that the presidential post is for “all Christians” and “all Lebanese.”

The meeting was also attended by Hariri's advisers Ghattas Khoury and Nader Hariri, Jumblat's sons Taymur and Aslan, the ministers Akram Shehayyeb and Wael Abou Faour, and the MPs Henri Helou, Marwan Hamadeh, Ghazi Aridi, Elie Aoun, Antoine Saad, Fouad al-Saad, Alaa Terro and Nehme Tohme.

Jumblat also threw a dinner banquet in honor of his guests, according to a statement issued by his Progressive Socialist Party.

“My visit to Walid Bek is aimed at continuing the consultations over the presidency and expediting the election of a president, especially that we have a constitution and a democracy,” said Hariri after the talks, urging all MPs to head to parliament and elect a president.

“The absence of a president is the reason behind all the problems we're witnessing today in Lebanon,” he added.

“We agreed with Walid Bek that the president is a very vital and important issue for all Lebanese and that this post is for all Christians and all Lebanese,” Hariri went on to say.

Jumblat for his part said Hariri's presence in Lebanon is “essential,” warning that “vacuum is harmful at all security, economic and social levels.”

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended on May 25, 2014 and Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions.

Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

Hizbullah and some of its allies, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that FPM founder MP Michel Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his influence in the Christian community.

Jumblat had voiced support for Hariri's proposal to nominate Franjieh when it first emerged but lately he has reiterated his adherence to the nomination of MP Henri Helou, a member of his Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc.

Y.R.