Zahra Urges 'Advocates of Sovereignty Project' Not to 'Offer More Concessions'

Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra has warned those he called “the advocates of the sovereignty project” against “offering further concessions.”

“These concessions are reflecting negatively on the entire country and on the state and its institutions as well as the economy,” Zahra said.

“The LF is seeking to fill the presidential void, which is causing paralysis and aggravated violation of the Constitution's stipulations,” the lawmaker noted.

“The first step towards all solutions is the election of a president and ending the vacuum. This is the only way to revive institutions, not the threats to topple the government,” Zahra added, in an apparent jab at the Free Patriotic Movement, the LF's new Christian ally.

“The election of a president ends all these bravados,” the MP noted.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, FPM founder MP Michel 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.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, 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.

Hariri's move prompted LF leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival.

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.