Is Hezbollah considering Lebanon’s army chief as the consensual president?

Al-Jadeed information reported that “A secret meeting between the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, and Hezbollah ‘s parliamentary bloc leader MP Mohamed Raad was held a few days ago, and both sides were keen to keep this meeting secret, so that any party that would leak its occurrence and contents, will avail the other party the right to deny it.”

According to Al Jaded’s sources “The purpose of the meeting between the two was presidential, but no details were disclosed

“This meeting was closely followed up by (Marada Movement chief Suleiman) Franjieh and by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who are seeking to know what was said in the meeting. The meeting also received foreign attention, especially from France. However, the meeting’s two sides strictly agreed to prevent any leaks, as reports said that Raad asked General Aoun specific questions,” Nidaa al-Watan said.

The question on everyone’s mind following the encounter: Is Hezbollah finally considering Lebanon’s army chief as the consensual president?

Several names were mentioned as potential presidential candidates and Aoun has been leading the list even though he has not been officially nominated by any party.

Lebanon has been without a president since the end of October 2023 when Michel Aoun’s term expired .

The parliament failed in 12 sessions to elect a president , primarily because of the lack of a qurom. 

Berri a staunch ally of Hezbollah blocked the qurom following every session by making sure that all his allies leave the parliament after the first round.

According to the Lebanese constitution if no candidate secures two-third of the parliamentary vote in the first round the parliament should remain in session until the candidate that secures a simple majority of half plus one of the votes gets elected .

Hezbollah , whose candidate is Suleiman Franjieh, a close friend of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad has with some help from Berri and the French leadership been trying to get his candidate elected . During the last session Franjieh secured 51 votes in the first round while the opposition’s candidate Jihad Azour , a former minister and the head of the IMF in the middle East seured 60 votes but one of his votes went missing . Reports suggested that Berri was behind the missing vote.