Miqati, Saniora Won't Run in Elections, Will Back Electoral Lists

Prime Minister Najib Miqati and ex-PM Fouad Saniora will not run personally in the upcoming parliamentary elections but will sponsor a number of electoral lists, sources close to the club of prime ministers said.

“Saniora insists that he does not want to present himself as being the political heir of the political Harirism represented in ex-PM (Saad) Hariri,” the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Friday.

“His nomination after Hariri’s withdrawal will provide an alibi to those seeking to fish in troubled waters in order to deepen the rift between them under the excuse that he wants to run in the same district (Beirut 2) that Hariri used to run in,” the sources said.

Saniora is also distancing himself from the electoral battle in the Sidon-Jezzine district, although Sidon is his hometown, in order not to dismay the head of al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Bahia Hariri, who is stressing that al-Mustaqbal should stay out of the battle in line with Saad Hariri’s decision to withdraw from politics, the sources added.

Media reports meanwhile said that the electoral list that Saniora will back in Beirut’s second district will comprise ex-ministers Khaled Qabbani and Hassan Mneimneh, American University of Beirut professor Lina Tannir and candidates who represent the main Beiruti families.