Berri: Everyone has Reservations about Aoun's Election

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Tuesday that everyone has reservations about, or reject the nomination of MP Michel Aoun for the post of presidency, As Safir daily reported on Tuesday.

“The political figures that (al-Mustaqbal Movement chief) ex-PM Saad Hariri has met during his consultations have either rejected or expressed reservations about the election of the General (Aoun),” Berri told the daily.

“I know what I am saying and I am certain about each word when I say 'all of them,'” he went on to say.

After he returned to Lebanon last week, Hariri held a series of meetings with political figures in a bid to give momentum to the file of the presidency. His mobility triggered a flurry of rumors about a possible presidential settlement that the former premier has finally decided to endorse Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock.

Hariri had held talks with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel, Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, Speaker Nabih Berri and Aoun.

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 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 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.

SourceNaharnet
Comments 2
Thumb justin 04 October 2016, 09:55

“I know what I am saying and I am certain about each word when I say 'all of them,'” he went on to say.

does that include hezbollah too? It sounds like it.

Thumb oompa-loompas 04 October 2016, 19:47

the Cristhians?