Franjieh heads to Paris to meet government officials

LBCI has learned that the Marada Movement, leader Suleiman Franjieh, is visiting France on Friday where he will meet French government officials

According to Al-Jadeed information, Franjieh received a call from the Advisor to the French President for North African and Middle East Affairs Patrick Dorrell. who reportedly invited him to visit Paris on Friday.

His trip comes few days after Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt headed to Paris to meet with French president Emanuel Macron

Jumblatt’s trip to Paris is aimed at agreeing on a unifying candidate to end the presidential crisis,

A few days before the Saudi-Iranian agreement to normalize relations was signed in Beijing, Hezbollah officially endorsed  Franjieh as its candidate for the presidency.

Some observers believe that knowing the accord would be signed, Hezbollah realized that it was necessary to have a candidate in hand to prepare for negotiations over a consensual figure that the reconciliation would invariably impose on the Lebanese parties.

The problem for Franjieh is twofold: Until now he doesn’t have a majority in parliament that would allow him to win an election, and he is opposed by the three main Maronite Christian parties, which would deny him any communal legitimacy, since presidents come from the Maronite community.

According to political observers, even in the unlikely chance that he could be voted into office, his term would be highly contentious because of hostility from within his community.

This suggests that Franjieh is really more of   a bargaining chip for Hezbollah and its allied Shiite party, the Amal Movement. Yet until now, both continue to insist that they will not give up on their candidate. To most people, this is merely a ploy to ensure that any alternative candidate is closer to one that both parties favour. But what mechanism would lead to such a figure?

The French and Saudi influence are not negligible in choosing a president. Saudi Arabia, through its ambassador in Beirut, made it clear the kingdom would not welcome Franjieh. The French, in turn, reportedly supported his candidacy, assuming that Hezbollah had to be satisfied. However, Jumblatt, apparently agreeing with the Saudis, has stated that Franjieh would not be seen as a unifying figure. Since then, there have been unconfirmed reports in Beirut that Paris was leaning in the same direction.

One observer told Ya Libnan :” Maybe the French asked him to come to Paris to tell him that they tried their best but that was not good enough . Franjieh will then be able to come back to Lebanon and declare that he is not in the running. After all he never officially announced his candidacy, precisely to avoid the humiliation of being forced to backtrack on this front.