Lebanon’s Presidential Election: Opposition Announces Jihad Azour as Candidate amidst Escalating Campaign against Him

All eyes in Lebanon are turning to what will happen next week on the presidential file, as the opposition is expected to officially announce its candidacy for former minister Jihad Azour, at a time when the campaign led by the “Shiite duo” (Hezbollah and the Amal Movement) against this nomination is escalating. He is a challenging candidate.Add an advertisement

Representatives of the Christian parties confirmed moving forward with Azour’s candidacy, while opposition parliamentary sources reiterated the reminder that “the basis has been decided, which is the agreement on it between the opposition and the (Free Patriotic Movement), while some small formal details are still being discussed.”
And the representative of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Ghada Ayoub, announced that next Monday, at the latest, will witness the announcement of the opposition’s position to go towards Azour’s candidacy for the presidency.
And she said in a radio interview: “Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has not called since January for an election session, and today there is no justification for not calling after all justifications have fallen.” It allows (Hezbollah) to run the game as it pleases and in the same way.” She considered that “with the nomination of Jihad Azour, the opposition succeeded in overthrowing the candidacy of Suleiman Franjieh.
In turn, MP in the “forces” Antoine Habshi stressed “the importance of crystallizing the positive intersection that took place in light of the presidential stalemate and the intransigence of the Shiite duo behind his candidate.” Because the duo, for the first time, is unable to actually manage the game.
Regarding the distribution of votes in the event of a call for an election session, he considered that “in the event of the seriousness of the new intersection, the votes that the candidate Jihad Azour may obtain will exceed 65 votes,” considering that “what we are living today is an extension of the feeling of excess power by the other party that only accepts In his opinion, and wants to impose it at any cost, just as (Hezbollah) can only trust Franjieh to protect his goal, and since his goal is weapons, he limits the range of communication with the parties.
For its part, the “Free Patriotic Movement” stresses that Azour is a serious and unified candidate, and not a maneuvering candidate, in response to the “Shiite duo” that he describes as such, noting that “the principle of (Hezbollah’s) authoritarianism is manifested by imposing a president on Christians.”
And while he revealed that he had offered “to the head of the (Free Patriotic Movement), Representative Gebran Bassil, many state jobs by the Shiite duo in exchange for marching with Franjieh, but we rejected this matter, and we remained on our position not to follow it.” He considered that “electing a president for the republic is an entitlement A Christian, and Christians must have the first decision, and we will try to reach an understanding with others so that our candidate will not be a challenging president.

Waiting for the “Socialist” position
Meanwhile, anticipation prevails over what the position of the “Progressive Socialist” party will be, which had placed Azour among the names it proposed for the presidency in a previous initiative, but it has not yet announced its position on uniting the opposition around Azour today. While MP Ghassan Atallah expressed his optimism that the meeting of the “Democratic Meeting” (Socialist) next Tuesday could end with Azour’s support, it was remarkable the position expressed by MP Bilal Abdullah, who called for searching for a common candidate among all forces. political.
Abdullah said in a radio interview: “(Socialist) wants a consensual candidate who believes in an internal consensual formula, and the (democratic meeting) meeting next Tuesday will carry all the good for Lebanon.” He added, “We nominated the name of Jihad Azour for his economic vision and successful experience in the Ministry of Finance, but what is required is to re-inspect a new space for dialogue, and to search for a common candidate among all political forces, and we will announce our position after we feel that all parties have agreed on a specific candidate.”

“Shia duo”
On the other hand, the “Shiite duo” is still dealing negatively with Azour’s candidacy, which was reflected in the positions of his officials and deputies.
Representative Ali Khreis warned of the “Development and Liberation” bloc, which is headed by the Speaker of Parliament, of what he described as “the danger of the coming days that Lebanon is going through in light of the vacuum in the position of the presidency of the republic and the deliberate paralysis in state administrations, which will lead to an increase in the economic and social crises that it suffers from.” Lebanon”.
In a speech he delivered at a ceremony in southern Lebanon, he held the other party responsible for the vacuum, and said, “The vacuum that the other party seeks is contrary to Lebanese political customs and traditions, and it is an approach that will lead to the destruction of what is left of the state.”
Likewise, Hezbollah representative Hussein Hajj Hassan said, in a dialogue meeting: “We announced our support for Franjieh some time ago, and we are convinced that he is the right person for this role, while the other team had a candidate, and now they are trying to agree on another candidate, and we will see developments in the coming days.” However, we ask whether the election of the president can take place without national understanding. If the other party thinks so, then it is mistaken. Our constitution adopted consensual democracy, and stipulates that elections require a legal quorum of 86 deputies. This quorum is not achieved by pressure or intimidation, nor by any means other than understanding and dialogue. The positions of the second party that reject dialogue and understanding contribute to Prolonging the crisis, and this harms the interests of the Lebanese.
For his part, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safieddine, called for an understanding on the presidential elections, and said, “The only available way to accomplish the elections is through understanding and consensus, and this is what we have said since day one, and we are still calling for it.” And he believed that “the nature of Lebanon, its system, and the equation that exists within the parliament imposes on everyone that any election of a president must be subject to consensus.” Therefore, unless the parties agree with each other, we cannot achieve the presidential election.”- (Agencies)