Organization of the presidential election
Given the political stalemate in the country, French special envoy Jean-Yves le Drian suggests both political camps find a “third way” to elect a president. Without an agreement, financial support provided to Beirut by the five allied countries could be cut.
Big pressure surge. Facing “denial of reality” from Lebanese politicians, five allied countries Lebanon, France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are losing patience and threatening to review their financial support for Beirut, Jean-Yves Le Drian said this Tuesday, September 26th. The French special envoy to Lebanon and former foreign minister also suggested that the two political camps find a “third way” to elect a president, otherwise the country, which has been plunged into a political crisis, would be threatened with its “very existence”. .
For Le Drian, the situation is clear: “The vital future of the Lebanese state itself is in danger.” “The survival of Lebanon is at stake,” he warned in an interview with AFP three months after the start of his mission. Faced with the country’s economic bankruptcy, accompanied by inflation “of more than 200%” and endemic unemployment, “politicians are in denial, which leads them to play tactical games at the expense of the country’s interests,” he accuses.
The five allied countries – France, the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt – met on September 19 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York without issuing a press release. “The five are in complete agreement, deeply irritated and questioning the sustainability of their financing in Lebanon, while the political leaders wallow in irresponsibility,” emphasizes Jean-Yves Le Drian. Sanctions against those who block any compromise also remain a possible weapon. “It is obviously a hypothesis,” he states, although he remains convinced that an “increase is possible.”
Since the end of President Michel Aoun’s term in office on October 31, 2022, the two opposing camps, the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah and its allies on the one hand, and its opponents on the other, have been working hard to elect their candidate to parliament although none of them have the majority. “Neither of them can prevail. No solution can work,” emphasizes the special envoy, who is returning from a third trip to Beirut. Last year, Parliament met twelve times unsuccessfully to elect the president.
Hezbollah supports former Damascus-affiliated minister Sleimane Frangié and his opponent Jihad Azour, an official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Among the possible alternatives, the name of Army Chief of Staff Joseph Aoun began to make the rounds. Under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, the presidency of Lebanon is reserved for a Maronite Christian.