Report: Hariri Calls on Aoun to 'Meet Halfway' on Presidential Issue

Al-Mustaqbal movement chief MP Saad Hariri voiced calls on founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun to find a middle ground on the issue of the presidential election in a bid to cross the difficult stage that Lebanon is witnessing and help end the vacuum at the top state post, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Hariri has conveyed a message to Aoun early this week, urging him “not to depend on some changes that have been frequently circulated by his friends because they are unfounded,” informed sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.

The sources added that Hariri's message carried “a clear advice emphasizing the need to stop preaching to these changes as soon as possible and to reconsider the strategy adopted.”

It also carried an invitation “to meet in a middle ground in order to cross into the election of a president who brings the Lebanese together instead of dividing them.”

Lebanon has been without a president since the May 2014 when the term of President Michel Suleiman ended.

Conflicts among the rival March 8 and March 14 alliances have thwarted attempts to end the vacuum.

Reports circulated recently claimed that a proposal has emerged to elect Aoun as president for a temporary period of two years.