The Lebanese parliament held its sixth session on Thursday to elect a new president for the republic, without electing a figure with the required majority due to the absence of consensus on any name.
The result of the plenary vote (first round) was as follows: white papers 46, Michel Moawad 43, New Lebanon 9, Issam Khalifa 7, Ziad Baroud 3, Suleiman Franjieh 1, Michel Daher 1 and an invalid paper 2, and the number of votes was among the deputies during the 112 session.
And before the start of the second session of the session, the quorum was lost which prompted Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to adjourn the session and set the seventh session next Thursday.
During the session, President Berri underlined, commenting on the discussions on the quorum for the election of the President of the Republic, that “we have told you from day one that there must be consensus in order to reach a conclusion”. discussion of the constitution because it is clear “. The constitution needs a two-thirds quorum, and whoever interrupts the quorum today can interrupt it in other sessions”.
For his part, Hussein Hajj Hassan, a member of the “Loyalty to the Resistance” bloc, said: “What is happening is a continuation of the political division in the country and the rejection of the other side of the dialogue requested by President Berri. “The responsibility for the obstruction falls on this same team that refuses dialogue.”
During the session, Representative Sami Al-Jamil spoke about the quorum needed to elect the president, and some representatives participated in this discussion.
In the context, the Al-Binaa newspaper stated, according to its information, “The Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, Renewal and Socialist Party blocs will vote for the deputy candidate, Michel Moawad, and new votes will be added from the Change Bloc and it is likely that the two representatives will be Mark Daou and Najat Saliba, bringing the number of votes it will receive to around 47 votes.” The Amal movement and Hezbollah will vote with a white paper and the votes of the change bloc will be distributed between Moawad, Issam Khalifa and New Lebanon.
In a related context, Al-Banna stated that “on the eve of the session, political circles followed with great interest the visit of the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Representative Gebran Bassil, to France and his connection with the presidential elections in in light of French efforts towards Saudi Arabia and internal parties to reconcile them to elect a consensual president”. tour Bassil is doing in several countries and is related to the presidential file to explore the French atmosphere and international conditions to produce a presidential deal in Lebanon, especially after his visit to Qatar last week.
In turn, the Al-Jumhuriya newspaper stated, quoting sources, that “the consultations that took place on several lines in recent days have not led to any positive results, but have indeed indicated that the possibility of a consensus is impossible, in relation to the orientations of the parties in internal conflict”, and he continued, “as happens with the opposition, which has not been able to rally around a specific candidate, and at the same time has closed the door to understanding with the other party on a consensual president of the republic, as happens on the other side, where attempts among the “allied team” to agree on a specific candidate failed.
The newspaper specified that “the consultations are not finished, having a continuation in the near future, especially as they coincide with signals relating to the presidential dossier received by some levels of responsibility through European diplomatic channels as well as Arab ones, proving that the file presidential election is on fire and should be completed in the near future.” He added: “The remarkable thing about these references is that they approach the nominations and the names that are presented in failed election sessions as non-serious nominations, and there is no room for any of them to attain the presidency, nor do they simultaneously imply any veto over any major candidate.” .
Source: Lebanese newspapers
