Rifi expects dialogue with boycotts and Aoun's election as president

MP Ashraf Rifi has described as “good” the meeting that was held Thursday in Yarze between Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari, French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan and 21 Sunni MPs.

It was aimed at “facilitating the presidential election process,” Rifi told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Friday, noting that there is a new drive that might lead to the election of Army chief Joseph Aoun as president.

“The inclination is to look for a third candidate other than (Suleiman) Franjieh and (Jihad) Azour,” Rifi added.

“We expect that a dialogue will be held with some boycotts after which there will be a call for open sessions for the election of a president, and thus it is likely that the choice has become Army Commander General Joseph Aoun,” the lawmaker went on to say.