Lebanese Presidential Elections: Parliament Session and Foreign Interventions

NNA – Al-Akhbar newspaper wrote: Unless something unexpected happens, a parliamentary session will be held tomorrow that will not end with the election of a president. What happened yesterday was new, represented by contacts that began between local forces and foreign capitals aimed at “stopping tension” by postponing the session to a later date, with the cover of the Maronite Patriarchate and French support.
President Nabih Berri informed his visitors (see article by colleague Nicolas Nassif) that adjournment of the session could not take place unless Bkerke requested it and with other parties, which opened the door to contacts to prevent the big political explosion, just as former MP Walid Jumblatt initiated unannounced contacts to persuade a number Those concerned with non-escalation, linked to tomorrow’s session.
However, question marks remained surrounding the scenarios that will be endorsed in tomorrow’s session. Berri, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, accomplished his constitutional duty by calling for a new round to elect a president, devoting himself and other parties, currents, forces of change, and independents to political maneuvers that could result in surprises. However, the constant is that the session will not result in the election of a president for the republic, especially since the opposition forces that intersected with the Free Patriotic Movement over the nomination of the former minister, Jihad Azour, do not aim to bring him to Baabda, as it does not seem to them more than a billiard ball that hits the nomination of the leader of the Marada Movement. Suleiman Franjieh, to negotiate a third option. The second constant is that there is no second round of the session in which the team supporting Franjieh can use the right to break the quorum. And between the two constants, the game remains confined to the points that the two candidates will win, and it is a game that the two parties to the conflict play with all political weapons in order to delineate the sizes that will determine the stage after Wednesday’s “fight”, in connection with the external developments that will take place in the countries concerned with the presidential file.

With the start of the countdown to the session, the pace of contacts accelerates towards the gray parliamentary bloc, which has not yet announced its position. Yesterday, it seemed that the attempts of the Azour-supporting team had succeeded in attracting some representatives of “Change” who have great interests with the same team. Representative Paula Yacoubian is in charge of proposing Azour and negotiating his name, and she presented the matter to her colleagues at a meeting two days ago that included Representatives Firas Hamdan, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Yassin Yassin, Najat Saliba, Melhem Khalaf and Cynthia Zrarir, but they refused to walk in it with their colleague, Representative Halima Kaaqour, who is absent. About the sessions due to travel. Their sources said that they “refuse to be part of any presidential project close to the parties,” and “they are studying the idea of ​​voting with a white paper or putting forward a third name, and they may announce a position before the session.” However, Yacoubian conveyed to stakeholders in the Azour team that she had succeeded in winning over Khalaf and Hamdan.
According to informed sources, “the number of white papers is the tipper’s egg in the next session and will reduce the difference between Azour and Franjieh, which disturbs Azour’s supporters, who have launched a fierce campaign against these, accusing them of “serving Hezbollah’s candidate.” According to the information, “most of the Sunni deputies in The parliament decided to remain neutral and vote with a blank card, including the Sunni members of the Moderation bloc, some of whom informed the Speaker of Parliament that they were out of line.
Those familiar with the recent “Pointage” process pointed to “information that undermines the allegations of Azour’s team about the latter’s obtaining 61 votes so far, because they count a number of representatives of change and the independents with them.” And while it has become certain that a number of representatives of the “Strong Lebanon” bloc will not abide by the decision of the Free Patriotic Movement to vote for Azour, informed sources confirmed that “the Tashnak bloc has decided its matter, and if it does not vote for Franjieh, it is certain that it will not go with Azour.”

48 hours before the session, Azour broke his silence for the first time after announcing his candidacy by the opposition and the Free Patriotic Movement. In a statement, he thanked “all the forces that nominated him and extended his hand to the other forces, stressing that he is not a challenging candidate.”
Meanwhile, the movement of external contacts regarding the Lebanese file was renewed. Diplomatic sources said that all countries concerned with the Lebanese file are awaiting the session, and awaiting what will be issued by it to build on it, noting that the French envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, will start his duties in Beirut as soon as the session ends, which was what the French ambassador, Anne Griot, told those she met yesterday. It was also noted that US Ambassador Dorothy Shea left Beirut and may not return before Wednesday’s session, which sources in contact with the embassy were keen to point out, in response to words conveyed by more than one deputy that officials at the US embassy began two days ago in direct contact with some representatives to persuade them. Azour elected.

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