Jumblat: Franjieh's Presidential Chances Collapsing and I'm Willing to Endorse Aoun

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted Sunday that the presidential chances of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh have “started to collapse,” adding that he is willing to endorse Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun's nomination.

“Suleiman Franjieh went too far during his trip to Paris and his chances to reach the presidency have started to collapse,” Jumblat said in an interview with LBCI television, referring to Franjieh's Paris meeting with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri.

“Syria cannot accept a Lebanese president whose policies are not guaranteed,” Jumblat added.

Noting that he was opposed to Aoun's nomination prior to FPM's “reconciliation” with the Lebanese Forces, the PSP leader revealed that he is willing to endorse Aoun for the presidency “if that would achieve Lebanon's interest.”

“Perhaps there is a regional-international decision rejecting the election of a new president,” Jumblat added.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Suleiman's term expired in May 2014 and Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Franjieh for the presidency.

Hariri's move was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

Aoun's supporters argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian political arena.

As for the rise of resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi as a new Sunni leader in the wake of the latter's stunning victory in Tripoli's municipal polls, the PSP leader pointed out that “all parties contributed to arming the rival groups in Tripoli, including Ashraf Rifi,” in reference to the deadly clashes that the city witnessed between 2008 and 2014.

“Tripoli witnessed a political settling of scores and the first target was Saad Hariri,” added Jumblat.

“We will see where will Ashraf's rhetoric take Tripoli's Sunnis,” he went on to say.

“I wonder if there is a foreign role in Rifi's movement in Tripoli,” Jumblat told LBCI.

Addressing Hariri, the PSP leader added: “Beware of those who are the closest to you.”

“Some reports have said that Jamaa Islamiya voted for Rifi's list in Tripoli and, if confirmed, this means that Turkey is settling its scores,” Jumblat suggested.

Warning Hariri “not to return to the previous tense rhetoric against Hizbullah, even if he remains alone,” the PSP leader stressed that “sometimes we must not follow the pulse of the popular base.”

“This is what I did after the May 7, (2008) clashes,” he added.

“The country can only be governed through settlements, not through the number of parliamentary seats,” said Jumblat about Hizbullah's call for passing an electoral law based on proportional representation.

“We must carry on with the internal dialogue in order to foil strife,” he said.

And refusing “any attempt to turn Lebanon once again into an arena for settling scores between Iran and the Arabs,” Jumblat addressed Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, saying “it is not our job in Lebanon to topple the House of Saud.”

“Even in Iran they have not called for this,” Jumblat noted.

Y.R.