By Yodeni Masó Aguila
Chief correspondent for Prensa Latina in Lebanon
The threat of a major conflict as a result of the aggression in Tel Aviv pushed the act of the first judgeship into the background after the failure of twelve parliamentary sessions.
Amid this scenario, the lack of consensus between the main Christian currents prevented the appointment of the 14th Lebanese head of state after independence in 1943.
This deficiency further weakens the institutional vacuum of the Levantine nation under the interim leadership of the Prime Minister, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Director General of Security.
In this context, the country's main political forces exacerbated internal contradictions, a crisis of appointments in the Military Council, the Army Command and the General Staff, a few days after General Joseph Aoun resigned from his post at the head of the armed forces.
INCOMPLETE VOTING PATH
Only two parliamentary sessions were held this year to elect the next president, with the voting process beginning a month before the end of Michel Aoun's term, on October 31, 2022.
On January 19, the first convocation of 2023, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the plenary session due to a lack of quorum as no representative of the Maronite Christian community received the votes required for the presidential seat.
110 out of 128 possible deputies took part in this eleventh session and the candidate Michel Moawad added 34 votes; Essam Khalifa, seven; Ziad Baroud, two, and Edward Hanin, one, meanwhile, 37 ballots were cast blank and 29 were declared invalid.
On June 14, former minister Jihad Azour and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh were the main contenders.
The second legislative session of the year brought together all deputies, Azour received 59 votes and Franjieh 51, which is still far from the number required to fill the highest judicial position.
Azour, the opposition proposal, was supported by the Free Patriotic Current, the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Kataeb Party, the Cambistas and the Progressive Socialist Party, while Franjieh was supported by the Shiite duo Amal and Hizbulah as well as a group of independent and Sunni parliamentarians.
REFUSAL OF DIALOGUE
Given external pressure and resistance from the far-right Christians (Lebanese and Phalangist forces), the Parliament Speaker's call for an agreement was not realized.
Faced with such a scenario, Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem called for blame for the lack of consensus not to be ignored and argued that the solution rests with internal political forces with responsibility and without interference.
In this context, he pointed out that the Resistance and its allies support a candidate with a clear political vision on Lebanon's independence, its liberation and the ambitions of the Israeli enemy.
He also called for a head of state who has the will to implement an economic rescue plan and open up to the East, West and all political parties in the country.
For their part, analysts stressed that amid the disagreements within Christian forces, more than one opposition party has announced another option, abandoning support for Michel Moawad and former International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour.
Against this background, experts believed that the quintet of countries interested in the Lebanese presidential archive (France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt) could move on to a new phase of treatment.
EXTERNAL FAULT
On this issue, local newspaper Al Diyar stated that there is no presidential voice on France and Qatar that can lift the country out of political stagnation after more than a year of power vacuum.
In November, French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, on his fourth visit to the country since his appointment in June, called for speeding up the election of the President of the Republic.
Le Drian called for unification of the national position in his meetings with the highest authorities of the government, parliament and key political actors.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that it was urgent to create the right conditions for the election of a head of state in the Lebanese Republic and the formation of a functioning government and its personal representative, Le Drian. work in this direction.
In addition to the former French Chancellor's trips, the current phase also saw diplomatic contacts from Qatar via its envoy Jassim bin Fahd Al Thani and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi.
At this point, the United Nations Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, insisted on completing important parliamentary matters, including the presidency and pending legislation.
On the occasion of the country's 80th anniversary of independence, interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati reiterated his calls to speed up the election of the head of state in order to restore order in institutions and promote reforms for reconstruction.
Mikati rejected the violation of national sovereignty in the face of Israeli aggression in southern areas and called on the international community to put pressure on Tel Aviv to stop its crimes and respect agreements, resolutions and human rights.
On the other hand, the highest representative of the parliament, Nabih Berri, pointed out that Lebanon is facing a dangerous phase with the extension of the power vacuum, the economic crisis, the Syrian expulsion and the current Israeli hostility towards the Gaza Strip and against residential neighborhoods. of villages and border towns in the south of the country.
Faced with this scenario, the veteran political leader added that the situation requires everyone to assume national responsibility and, as soon as possible, elect the President of the Republic as the starting point for the functioning of the institutions.
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