Photo: Speaker Nabil Berri (R) who heads up the Amal Parliamentary bloc and Mohammad Raad (L) who is the head of Hezbollah’s Parliamentary bloc. Raad visited Berri at his Ain al-Tineh residence on Saturday, Jan 4,2025 to discuss the presidential election, according to al Mayadeen.
The parliamentary blocs of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are reportedly still against Army chief Joseph Aoun’s presidential nomination, according to a report by al-Jadeed TV.
“They are still of the opinion that the army chief’s election requires a constitutional amendment and they will not agree to a constitutional amendment,” al-Jadeed reported.
“As long as Suleiman Franjieh is a candidate, our choice is still Suleiman Franjieh, but we are open to several names, including Maj. Gen. Elias al-Bayssari, and we will not elect a president who constitutes a violation of the constitution ,” sources told the channel, apparently referring to Aoun.
The constitution stipulates that any first-grade civil servant like Aoun should leave their post at least six months prior to being elected president.
But Franjieh withdrew from the race on Wednesday and according to Lebanese media reports , the only two serious candidates at this stage are Aoun and Jihad Azour
“The Shiite blocs are coordinating their position with the Free Patriotic Movement ,” al-Jadeed reported, adding that Hezbollah and Amal will not announce their candidate prior to the presidential election session.
Al-Jadeed also reported that MP Mohammad Raad , the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc expressed in his meeting Wednesday with French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian that “Hezbollah will not stand in the way of Lebanese consensus over a president.”
MP Hassan Fadlallah, a key member of Hezbollah Parliamentary bloc announced in a statement regarding what is being published attributed to the Shiite duo’s sources regarding the presidential elections, that “we will announce our position tomorrow at the ballot box, and we do not adopt any information published before the vote, and we will vote according to what is consistent with our national convictions.”
Meanwhile, MP Hamid Ayoub of Amal’s Parliamentary bloc was quoted Wednesday as saying : “We are for consensus and there will be no absolute position. There will be successive rounds regarding the presidential entitlement.” Our position is unified with “Hezbollah, ” he added .
Berri is currently holding a meeting for his bloc according to El Nashua website
Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liaison Unit declared Sunday that his party does not have a “veto” on electing Army chief Joseph Aoun as president there only veto is on the head of the Lebanese Forces Dr. Samir Geagea
“The only veto is on (Lebanese Forces leader) Samir Geagea, because he stands for a project of destruction and strife for the country,” Safa said, from the site of the airstrike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sep. 27, 2024.
Safa’s statement drew a lot of criticism
“The head of the foreign relations department of the Lebanese Forces Party, former Minister Richard Kouyoumjian, commented on Safa’s remark by stating “The only veto that the Iranian party has in Lebanon is on the project of establishing a real state,” stressing that “the head of the Lebanese Forces , honors those who believe in the state’s, identity, sovereignty, diversity and freedom, and you are not one of them, so do not even utter his name.”