Hariri to endorse Aoun but more obstacles ahead
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/October 19/16
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Tuesday informed members of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc of his decision to endorse MP Michel Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency, ex-Premier Fouad Siniora said.
Hariri’s widely expected move will put an end to the uncertainty over the Future bloc’s position on the presidency but it is unlikely to lead to the election of Aoun at the Parliament session on Oct. 31 because of strong opposition by Speaker Nabih Berri.
“[Former] Prime Minister Hariri informed the Future bloc today of his intention to support Gen. Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency,” Siniora, head of the Future bloc, told The Daily Star. “But there is no final decision yet on this matter.”
Siniora said he does not expect Hariri to make an official announcement on backing Aoun’s presidential bid in the next two days as had been widely expected by Free Patriotic Movement officials.
Asked if all of the Future bloc’s 31 members will abide by Hariri’s decision to support Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency, Siniora, who strongly opposes election of Aoun as president, said: “This is premature.”
Future MP Ammar Houri said Hariri briefed the bloc’s members on the outcome of his flurry of wide consultations both at home and abroad over the presidential crisis. “[Former] Prime Minister Hariri is heading to back Gen. Aoun for the presidency,” Houri told The Daily Star.
Hariri, who returned to Beirut Monday night from visits to Saudi Arabia and France, held a series of meetings Tuesday at his Beirut Downtown residence, mainly with ministers of the Amal Movement, the Marada Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party, to inform them of his decision to proceed with supporting Aoun for the presidency. Hariri’s decision means he is dropping his support for Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh who is vying with Aoun for the presidency.
Hariri also chaired the Future bloc’s weekly meeting, which warned that any further delay in the election of a president would expose the country to greater dangers.
“The parliamentary Future bloc considers that the priority at this critical and dangerous period of presidential vacancy is to elect a president according to the Constitution, and by implementing its provisions since the Constitution is the only document approved by the Lebanese. Therefore, no other rules can apply,” the bloc said in a statement after the meeting read out to reporters by Houri.
The Future bloc’s statement emphasized that the central and core task of the lawmakers and political parties is to work on electing a president according to the articles of the Constitution.
“In parallel, the work of constitutional institutions, particularly Parliament and Cabinet, should be activated, to address urgent issues in order to meet the needs of the people, the country and the national economy, which is suffering from a major crisis and a dangerous decline in all indicators,” it said.
“Therefore, any delay in the election of the president and any obstruction of the work of constitutional institutions, particularly that of Parliament and Cabinet, would expose the country to more dangers at national, political, security, financial and economic levels,” it added.
Hariri met first with Health Minister Wael Abu Faour who was reported to have conveyed a message from MP Walid Jumblatt on Aoun’s candidacy. He later met separately with Culture Minister Raymond Areiji from the Marada Movement and Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a top aide to Berri, who staunchly opposes Aoun’s presidential bid. He also met with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who did not speak to reporters after the meeting.
Khalil did not speak to reporters after the 15-minute meeting with Hariri. Political sources told The Daily Star that Khalil informed Hariri of Berri’s rejection of Aoun’s presidential bid and that the speaker would not participate in a new government and would not support Hariri if the FPM founder was elected as president.
Earlier in the day, Khalil said that Berri’s 14-member parliamentary bloc would vote against Aoun at the Oct. 31 Parliament session.
“We will not boycott the presidential election session. But we will not support Gen. Aoun and will vote against him and become part of the opposition,” Khalil told reporters in Parliament.
He stressed that differences between Berri and Aoun cannot be resolved through a meeting.
Khalil warned of what he called “a bilateral Sunni-Maronite accord,” a reference to the FPM-Future agreement on backing Aoun for president. “We will not accept a bilateral Sunni-Maronite accord and we will confront it,” he said.
However, Khalil’s remarks drew a harsh response from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.
“Any talk about a bilateral Christian-Sunni [accord] is irresponsible and unacceptable and aims at inciting strife,” former Minister Salim Jreissati from the FPM told a news conference following the bloc’s weekly meeting chaired by Aoun at his residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut. “We refuse to be threatened by anyone who threatens the Lebanese with a civil war.”
“We are advocates of broad-based national understandings and Gen. Aoun’s policy is openness and the National Charter,” he said. He added that the National Charter was not a bilateral or tripartite agreement, but a deal “for everyone.”
Referring to the strained ties between Berri and Aoun, Jreissati said: “We hope it is a black cloud in a promising summer night … Hopefully, unity and partnership will prevail.”
Responding to Berri’s declared opposition to Aoun’s presidential bid, he said: “Anyone who wants to support us can, and those who don’t [want to] can oppose us, but without leveling accusations at random.”
Later Tuesday night, Khalil responded to Jreissati, denying in a statement that he used the term “a bilateral Christian-Sunni accord.”
In the meantime, MP Ghazi Aridi, from Jumblatt’s bloc, called for a “compromise” to end the presidential vacuum, now in its third year.
“Lebanon is going through a difficult, sensitive and critical stage over the presidential election … In the most difficult circumstances, dialogue was held among the Lebanese. Of course, it is better for the country and everyone to have a compromise, understanding, coordination and cooperation [over the presidential election,” Aridi told reporters after meeting Berri at Ain al-Tinneh. “The country can no longer endure more crises, divisions and tensions.”
The meeting was also attended by Abu Faour; Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb; Jumblatt’s son, Taymour; and Hasan Khalil.
Commenting on the intensified meetings over the presidential vote, Jumblatt said in a brief tweet: “It seems a solution is imminent.”
Lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan from the FPM met with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea as a special envoy from Aoun at Geagea’s residence in Maarab, north of Beirut.
The two-hour meeting discussed the presidential election and the legislative parliamentary session which Berri called for Wednesday, the National News Agency reported.