The personal envoy of the French President for Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, pointed out that “at the request of the President of the Republic of France , who appointed me as his personal envoy for Lebanon, I visited Lebanon from June 21 to 24. On this first visit, I first wanted to listen. Therefore, I met with the civil, religious and military authorities, as well as representatives of all political parties represented in Parliament.
He announced in a statement, “I will submit a report on this mission to the President of the Republic upon my return to France. I will return again to Beirut very soon, because time does not work in favor of Lebanon,” stressing, “I will work to facilitate a constructive and inclusive dialogue between the Lebanese, in order to reach a solution that is at the same time consensual and effective, to get out of the institutional vacuum and carry out the necessary reforms for Lebanon’s advancement in a sustainable manner, in consultation with Lebanon’s main partner countries.
Highest priority is to elect president not dialogue
A source close to the leader of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, told Markaziya, “If we want to deduce the essence of the meeting with the French presidential envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, we will conclude with the following:
The first conclusion is that the French are now starting from scratch, and Le Drian repeated this sentence in front of those he met, which means that the French have skipped their previous initiative ( of supporting Franjieh) and are now starting from scratch.
The second implicit conclusion is that the presidential elections have reached a dead end, and no solution can be imagined so far except by going beyond what is currently on the table.
The third conclusion is that Le Drian was clear in his speech that the highest priority now is to elect a president for the republic and not to have a dialogue about the future of the political system or any other issue, and that it is important for everyone to focus on the name of the candidate that will be elected as the President of the Republic.
Several names discussed
Le Drian discussed with Lebanese leaders names of centrist presidential candidates, according Nidaa-al Watan
According to the daily he listed many possible candidates and asked them if they considered any of them as centrist candidates.
Outcome not encouraging
The outcome of French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian’s visit to Beirut was not encouraging, informed sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Saturday.
A prominent political figure was quoted as saying that “no president will be elected for at least a year.”
Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted informed sources as saying ” the presidential vacuum will not end before at least three months”
Also according to al-Akhbar newspaper , a Hezbollah delegation that included MP Mohammad Raad and Hezbollah’s foreign relations official Ammar al-Mousawi admitted that the last parliamentary session during the visit that the rival camp has said that Franjieh didn’t do well in “the last session and “they are willing to discuss a third choice.”
Elnashra / News Agencies
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