Report: Jumblat, Shiite Duo promoting presidential exit not opposed by Bkirki

The heated judicial and financial developments in the country are not a “coincidence” and some parties are orchestrating the events behind the scenes, prominent political sources said.

“The Shiite Duo and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat are leading strenuous attempts to break the presidential deadlock,” the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Friday.

“The drive is not promoting a certain name but is rather seeking to secure general consensus over the principle (of electing a president with 65 votes), after which the identity of the new president would be explored,” the sources added, noting that Jumblat is “seeking to limit the nominations to two candidates who can be promoted as settlement candidates.”

“But it seems that there are domestic and foreign parties who would be negatively affected by this drive and are working on sabotaging the current efforts,” the sources said.

Ad-Diyar added that, according to reports, Bkirki is “no longer opposed to such a scenario, seeing as the president’s legitimacy would be drawn from the attendance of 86 MPs of the first round” of voting. “This is what Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh sensed yesterday after his meeting with Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi,” the daily said.

And according to church sources, the patriarch is seeking to “explore the other Christian opinions” and is “still mulling some ideas which he might propose with a new format in the coming days.”