Report: Efforts Ongoing to Schedule Aoun-Franjieh Meeting

The emergence of reports that Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh may be a presidential candidate has created a stir among his alliances in the March 8 camp, most notably the Change and Reform bloc, whose leader MP Michel Aoun is a candidate himself.

Efforts are therefore ongoing to possibly hold a meeting between the two Christian leaders, reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

Franjieh may visit Aoun at his Rabieh residence to inform him of the details of his meeting with Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri.

The meeting, which was held last week, created a media and political frenzy that the lawmaker may be a new presidential candidate.

Sources close to the Marada Movement told the daily that contacts are ongoing to take advantage of the positives that were achieved in the wake of the meeting.

“Hariri's consultations with a number of his allies reflect his seriousness in dealing with the new opportunity to break the internal deadlock in Lebanon,” they said.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.

Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 alliances over a consensual candidate have thwarted the polls.