“We and our allies will vote for him (Franjieh). “None of us said that he would vote with a blank card,” confirmed the also chairman of the parliament with a view to the legislative period on June 14th.
The Shiite duo of Amal and Hezbollah, along with a group of Sunni and independent lawmakers, support Marada movement leader Franjieh; Meanwhile, the opposition from the main Christian parties such as the Free Patriotic Current, the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb announced the nomination of former finance minister Jihad Azour days ago.
In an interview published by local newspaper Al-Akhbar, Berri stressed: “We voted for the White Paper before announcing our candidacy for Franjieh and if they had accepted the dialogue, which I had asked for twice, we would not have arrived. ” we are today.”
At the same time, he denounced the other team’s attempts to interrupt the call if their representative didn’t win, assuring that there are other blocs who want to vote empty because they are not happy with the candidates, “it’s a political position .” and we are not in that context”.
After more than four months of political stagnation, Berri yesterday called on the 128 parliamentarians to take part in Election Day 12 next Wednesday and to elect the President of the Republic for the next six years.
The call comes amid the insistence of parliamentary blocs, politicians, movements and religious leaders not to waste any more time and resort to dialogue to end the power vacuum that has lasted more than seven months.
No candidate from the Maronite Christian Community received the support of the parliamentary majority in the eleventh session on January 19, a repeat of the previous one since calls began in late September.
Under an interim government with limited constitutional powers and facing its worst economic crisis in modern times, Lebanon is aiming to appoint its 14th post-independence leader following the end of Michel Aoun’s term on October 31.
rgh/yma