Paula Osteih wrote on Asharq Al-Awsat: The head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Representative Gebran Bassil, is pushing for a Christian-Christian entente under the auspices of the Maronite Patriarchate on the name of one or more presidents, after which he is presented to the rest of the forces represented in the Lebanese parliament and does not provoke them. However, all Basil’s attempts have so far failed, in light of the lack of enthusiasm of the “Lebanese Forces” party led by Samir Geagea to repeat the experience of 2016 when it was decided to proceed with the appointment of General Michel Aoun, as well as the lack of enthusiasm of the “Phalanges” party led by the deputy Sami Gemayel for the preventive agreements that make the presidential elections closed. The opposition forces, i.e. the “forces”, the “brigades”, the “progressive socialist” party and the independent exponents are pressing for the democratic game to take its course, so that the electoral sessions remain open until the election of a president. However, the obstruction of the second round of elections by Hezbollah and its allies, by not ensuring the required legal quorum, drives all forces into a vicious circle.
The position of the “forces” and of the “brigades” is today largely consistent with that of the Maronite patriarch Beshara Al-Rai, who recently underlined that “the election of a president of the republic does not happen through heresy of the prior agreement on him , but rather with the vote associated with the consultation”, hoping that “there will be no one who deliberately amputates the head of state”. To show the world Lebanon as a failed state that needs to be changed. And to deal with the intractability in the presidential dossier.
Elias Hanakash, a member of the Kataeb party, believes that “we should not specify what the Christian forces want, but implement the contents of the constitution. Pushing towards a preventive agreement on a specific name that we are going to stamp in parliament is contrary to the constitution and the democratic electoral process”. it happens in Rome to elect a pope”. And he adds: “The problem is with the forces that hindered the country for two and a half years until the election of former president Michel Aoun, which today was overturned from the failure to reach the quorum for the second rounds, and here we mean Hezbollah and its allies”.
And as Hanaksh points out that “there is no validity period for the opposition presidential candidate, the deputy Michel Moawad, because in the end we exercise our right-duty to vote for a certain candidate, and on the other hand c ‘are those who insist on blocking and blank ballot voting because of their inability to reach agreement on a presidential candidate.’ He explains that “a consultation is underway between the opposition forces to try to break the stalemate. He says: “We are ready for dialogue in parallel with the conduct of electoral sessions, not for dialogue that replaces sessions”, considering that “Unfortunately, Lebanon is a mailbox for regional and international powers in conflict through which messages are exchanged, implicitly through the presidential election.”
According to one of the representatives of “Change”, intense consultations are currently underway between the various opposition forces, in particular with the “forces”, the “brigades” and the “progressive socialist”, to agree on the name of a candidate who is able to get 65 votes and win the second round, underlining in a statement to “Al-Sharq” Al-Awsat” indicated that “the payment is for the adoption of the name of the former deputy, Salah Hanin, noting that when 13 representatives of the change voted to approve it, 9 voted for it.
