The presidential vacuum, starting next Monday, and one day before the 79th Independence Day, enters its fourth week since President Michel Aoun left the Baabda Palace for his home in Rabieh. Internal movement remained blocked, with the exception of the promotional movement carried out by Representative Gebran Bassil, head of the Al-Horr National Movement, not only to address the election of former MP Suleiman Franjieh in Baabda Palace, but also to disrupt Arab and international efforts, and French in particular, and to try to present himself as a candidate to counter what he calls “corruption” and prevent the birth of a triple “presidential troika”, even if the situation leads to the disclosure of Dhaheri due to a dispute with his ally, Hezbollah.
Prominent March 8 sources link Bassil’s foreign firm, which aims to trade the lifting of US sanctions against him, in exchange for facilitating Franjieh’s election.
In context, the sources speak of scenarios, including Hezbollah’s reluctance to embarrass the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, on the condition of guaranteeing the quorum required for his election (i.e. Franjieh without voting for him).
The sources do not hide that the deputies of the Free Patriotic Movement, during the collateral contacts with the “Shiite duo”, did not hide their intention to elect Franjieh when the serious moment comes, regardless of Bassil’s position and leadership.
And with the absence of internal movement to address the presidential vacancy crisis, which ends its third week after two days and enters its fourth week, and with the intention of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to resume his efforts to open a dialogue on the right, “but not after less than two weeks, according to reports from informed sources,” the brigade “, but will not sit idly by on the continuation of the vacancy, and is holding intermittent bilateral meetings with some forces, such as the meeting he had with Representative Gebran Bassil, but will gain momentum later.
