“Lebanese Presidential Election: Opposition Forces Struggle to Agree on a Candidate”

Opposition forces are hastening to agree on a candidate to run in the presidential election battle against the head of the “Marada” movement, Suleiman Franjieh. These forces feel confused after the leaks that emerged from the corridors of Ain al-Tineh, that President Nabih Berri might surprise everyone and call for a session to elect a president in the middle of this month.

Opposition agreement on one candidate without many obstacles that are difficult to overcome. The first is the refusal of the head of the “Free Patriotic Movement”, MP Gebran Bassil, to run with any candidate that “Hezbollah” rejects, and the second is the keenness of the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, not to disagree with his historical ally Berri.

In fact, the opposition forces lost in their presidential battle in the face of the Shiite duo and their allies, the votes of the representatives of the “Strong Lebanon” bloc and the “Democratic Gathering” bloc. Not only that, but the opposition forces suffer from their inability to attract the moderate state, the Sunnis in particular, which insist on the need to bring in a consensual president away from the existing alignments.

Even within the opposition ranks, you find it difficult for all parties, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalangists, the “Renewal” bloc, and some representatives of change and independents to agree on a specific candidate. Some choose the candidacy of former MP Salah Haneen, while others prefer the candidacy of former minister Jihad Azour.

What is considered controversial is the insistence of some opponents of Franjieh’s election to choose candidates that the party categorically rejects, which means repeating the experience of the head of the “independence” movement, Representative Michel Moawad.

Everyone knows that the Shiite duo, which alone holds the document of the pact, places a veto on each of Hanin and Azour. So why nominate them and engage in them as long as the presidential road is cut off in front of them?

Do the opposition forces, led by the “Forces”, intend not to nominate a figure acceptable to the Shiite duo, at least in order to embarrass the party and make it really compelled to give up the support of Franjieh, who is an exact copy of former President Michel Aoun?

In conclusion, it seems that we are facing a presidential agreement between Bassil and Jumblatt, the first refusing to join the “real opposition” convoy, and the second committing not to vote for a candidate who provokes the “Shiites”, so that the opposition forces will be in a presidential quandary and they will have one option left, which is to seek agreement with the rest of the parties and blocs on a president. Sovereign with national specifications, otherwise the presidential vacuum will not be filled by settlements or agreements except on the size of “Doha”.