Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MPs will boycott Thursday’s Parliament session to elect a president in the absence of an agreement over a consensus candidate, former Minister Salim Jreissati said after attending the weekly meeting .
The meeting was held at the residence of the bloc leader MP Michel Aoun in the Rabieh just north of Beirut.
“If circumstances remain the same by Thursday, then MPs from our bloc will not show up [at the election session],” said Jreissati .
Change and Reform MPs along with those of Hezbollah have boycotted four parliamentary sessions that were set to elect a president , saying they would only show up when a consensus is reached on one presidential candidate who really represents Lebanon’s Christians.
Aoun, who considers himself to be the representative of the majority of Lebanon’s Christians has been trying to convince the Future Movement to support him as a consensus presidential candidate.
President Michel Suleiman’s term ends on May 25 and he is reportedly against any term extension and cannot wait to get out of Baabda to start campaigning for the leadership of the Christian community.
LBC reportedly misquoted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea as saying during a press conference on Monday in Paris that former PM and Future Movement leader Saad Hariri proposed Aoun as a “consensus candidate.”
According to the LF office Geagea did not say that Hariri proposed Aoun as a consensus candidate , instead he said ” Aoun is proposing himself as a consensus candidate so lets discuss if he could be considered a consensus candidate “.
Geagea urged Aoun to declare his candidacy and said that he will be the first to visit him and congratulate him if he is elected”, but added:
“Will he ( Aoun) relinquish his MOU with Hezbollah? This is the key issue here .”
later in the day former PM and current Future Movement bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora said that his bloc will release a statement to clarify the confusion following the meeting between Hariri and Geageaand stressed that Geagea remains March 14’s only candidate
One observer who wants to remain anonymous told Ya Libnan :
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