Report: Hariri to Reactivate Presidential File

Adviser to al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex MP Ghattas Khoury said on Wednesday that leader of the Movement and ex-PM Saad Hariri will return soon from his trip abroad and plans to give momentum to the controversial file of the presidential election, As Safir daily reported on Wednesday.

Hariri plans to “reactivate the file in some way and in a new direction,” said Khoury after he held a meeting with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said the daily.

Khoury, who was dispatched by Hariri to meet Geagea, said that the “discussions are focusing on finding a way to record a breakthrough in the file of the presidency and that no final decision has been reached so far in that regard.”

“The impasse has become unacceptable mainly because of the worsening implications on the general situation in the country,” Khoury was quoted as saying.

“Hariri is still committed to the option of nominating (Marada Movement chief Suleiman) Franjieh and he will discuss this option with Speaker Nabih Berri and Franjieh after he returns back to Lebanon.

Khoury concluded: “Our intention from the nomination of Franjieh was to find a solution for the presidential vacuum not to add new complications. If the horizon stays blocked we must then search for options that allow us to make a breakthrough.”

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.