French envoy: Neither Franjieh nor Azour will be Lebanon’s new president

MTV reported that French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian informed the change and reform MPs that the next president would not be one of the names proposed by the parties, that is, neither Suleiman Franjieh nor Jihad Azour, and gave them guarantees that the session for electing the president would be one and open and that a quorum would not be broken in the second session.

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 quorum. 

Berri a staunch ally of Hezbollah blocked the quorum 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-thirds 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 secured 60 votes but one of his votes went missing. Reports suggested that Berri was behind the missing vote.

This development , according to analysts confirms that the French initiative which called for Franjieh as president and Nawaf Salam as PM has failed

Observers have been asking: “If the French initiative fails during Le Drian’s visit in September, will the position of Qatar which favors the Army Commander lead to the official nomination of army chief Joseph Aoun as president despite FPM’s veto?

For those who are well versed in Lebanese politics, the nomination of the Army Commander is not the result of the moment, nor the product of developments of recent days, as anyone who follows the political scenes is well aware that has always been considered within the “narrow” circle of “serious” candidates.

Aoun’s “strength”, according to observers lies in his external “relevance”, as he has a strong regional and international cover, in addition to his “excellent” relationship with the United States, noting that some sources confirm that the five-member group on Lebanon almost came close at its last meeting in Doha to announce the adoption of his candidacy but decided that it is better to make the announcement in Lebanon.

It is no secret to anyone that the name of the army commander has always been at the forefront of what was called the “Qatari initiative.

It is no secret also for those who are well-versed in Lebanese politics that the army commander is the “real” candidate for the opposition forces, who consider him the consensus presidential candidate.