Mustaqbal Sources: Regional Atmospheres Don't Encourage Presidential Settlement

W460

The atmospheres in the region “do not encourage a presidential settlement” in Lebanon, Mustaqbal bloc sources said on Tuesday, amid speculation in the country that Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon will speed up the election of a president.

“Hariri informed the bloc's MPs that he will continue his consultations with the leaders before returning to the bloc to take the appropriate decision,” the sources told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

The sources also confirmed that “Hariri will visit (Free Patriotic Movement founder) General Michel Aoun in Rabieh.”

After its weekly meeting earlier in the day, the bloc said in an official statement that Hariri has launched “consultations with all political parties” in a bid to “speed up the election of a president,” while reiterating that Hizbullah is to blame for the protracted presidential void crisis.

The meeting, which was presided over by Hariri, comes only a few hours after talks between the ex-PM and his declared presidential candidate, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, and three days after Hariri returned to the country from a foreign trip that lasted several weeks.

Turning to Wednesday's presidential vote session, the bloc urged all MPs to “take part in tomorrow's session to practice their constitutional duty of electing a president.”

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

Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate 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 Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between their two parties.

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.

Comments 2
Missing humble 27 September 2016, 20:49

If you go for Caporal we will leave you for good.

Missing humble 27 September 2016, 20:50

We have already left Geagea...