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BEIRUT: Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri has set June 14 as the date for a conference to elect Lebanon’s president.
Former President Michel Aoun’s term expired last October without a successor.
Monday’s announcement came after Lebanon’s various opposition, independent and main Christian parties said on Sunday they had nominated IMF official Jihad Azul for the presidency to challenge Hezbollah-backed candidate Suleiman Frangeh.
Hezbollah and its allies have insisted on nominating the leader of the Marada movement, Frangeier, for the post, amid growing political divisions in a debate over the necessary qualities of the next president.
Berry has stopped scheduling meetings since January after failing to elect a president for 11 sessions.
Azul, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, has yet to formally announce his candidacy for president.
However, he held a series of meetings with opposition MPs during which he answered their questions and concerns.
The results of the next presidential election conference are expected on Monday.
But the leaked report said Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, told the envoy during a meeting with Maronite patriarch Bechara Boutros Rahi on Sunday that Hezbollah stood by Franghieh.
The opposition is looking to the position of the Progressive Socialist camp.
It is scheduled to meet this week to determine where it will vote in the upcoming election session.
Progressive Socialist Party MP Hadi Abu Hassan expressed surprise at the attention Hezbollah and the Amal movement had given to Azul.
The MP said Azour was “a patriot who would not stab a Lebanese partner”.
He added: “Also, our system is not a presidential system where the president does not make decisions independently of the parliament and the cabinet.
“Any deal with the IMF is done through parliament and the government,” he said, adding that Azul “is not a challenge candidate, we put his name up five months ago.”
The MP said the opposition had agreed to the Free Patriotic Movement’s nomination of Azul.
“Our (Azour) nomination is not a strategy, but a serious proposal that we have not changed our minds. However, the question now is not about the nomination or the vote, but about how to prepare the atmosphere for Azour’s presidency,” Abu Hassan said.
“The sharp alignment could create a polarization that could be interpreted as challenging the nomination.”
The congressman suggested “broadening support for Azour, rather than attending meetings as before, in order to elect a president who can secure a broad consensus.”
“We need a quorum of 86 for a candidate to win the first round and a quorum of 65 for a candidate to win the second round,” he said. Two obstacles stand in the way of Azour’s presidency.
“The first is denying a quorum in the second session, and the second is sectarianism, which means the Shia members of Parliament will not elect him.”
Democratic MP Bilal Abdullah said: “It is impossible to elect a president without a Shia-Christian consensus.
“Filling the presidential vacancy would require providing a quorum of 86 members of Congress for a run-off ballot, 65 to win, and no one can ensure their safety.”
Kassem Hashem, an MP from the Amal Movement group, played down the importance of the opposition agreeing to nominate Azour.
“What’s happening is designed to prevent Frangieh from being elected president,” he said.
Independent MP Abdulrahman Bizri said he, MPs Osama Saad, Charbel Nahas and several Change MPs were still studying the situation in order to make the right choice.
“We don’t want a candidate supported by Hezbollah against a candidate supported by the Shia Amal movement against a candidate supported by the Christian majority,” he added.
One political observer expressed concern that some opposition forces simply appointed Azul to confront and overthrow Shiite party candidate Frangih, only to replace him with a more suitable consensus candidate.
In a joint statement, the Madame of the Mountains rallied and the National Committee to End the Iranian Occupation of Lebanon said they rejected Hezbollah’s “attempt to impose a president on the Lebanese people, which violates the Lebanese constitution, as well as the political and sectarian diversity of this country. “
The joint statement added: “Since there are two presidential candidates, the speaker no longer has any political excuse not to hold a meeting to elect the president in consecutive rounds.
“Anyone who obstructs the quorum is solely responsible for the continuation of the presidential vacuum.”
Lebanon’s constitution stipulates that meetings of the electoral body remain open until the president is elected.
The constitution also stipulates that before the end of the current president’s term – at least one month or at most two months – parliament should meet at the invitation of its speaker to elect a new president.
“If Parliament does not meet for this purpose, it shall meet by law on the 10th day before the end of the presidential term.
“Convocation of Parliament to elect the President is considered an electoral body, not a legislature, and the election of the President needs to proceed immediately without discussion of any other business.”
According to the constitution, the president negotiates with the prime minister to conclude an international treaty, which can only take effect after being approved by the cabinet.
Treaties and commercial treaties concerning the financial conditions of the state shall not be concluded without the approval of Parliament.
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