Report: Paris Pressuring Tehran over Presidential Candidate Backed by March 8, 14
France is seeking to encourage Iran to help the rival Lebanese politicians strike a deal on a new consensual president over fears that the regional turmoil would harm coexistence in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said.
The sources told An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday that the French initiative comes with an American support to fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.
The report came a day after lawmakers failed again to find a successor to President Michel Suleiman whose term ended in May.
The sources said that Paris believes the wars and crises in the region are threatening Lebanon's coexistence.
“To keep such coexistence and relations between Lebanese parties, officials in Lebanon should preserve the institutions and mainly the presidency,” they told An Nahar.
The French foreign ministry spokesman reminded on Wednesday that the U.N. Security Council called this month for national unity and the swift election of a new president.
“France backs Lebanon, its institutions and the government of Prime Minister Tammam Salam who is confronting efforts to create instability,” said Romain Nadal.
He urged the Lebanese to exert all efforts to resolve their differences and end the vacuum at the helm of the presidency.
France has contacted Iran to resolve the presidential deadlock because it believes that the local allies of Tehran are paralyzing the elections, the diplomatic sources said.
The majority of the March 8 alliance's MPs, including Hizbullah and Change and Reform bloc lawmakers, have boycotted more than a dozen rounds of parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a president over their call for an agreement on a compromise candidate first.
Iran is Hizbullah's main regional backer.
The boycott by “Iran's allies” comes despite “a regional and international will to preserve the constitutional institutions and to end the presidential vacuum,” said the sources.
Regional countries and the international community also want a head of state who “revives the institutions...and the national dialogue to reach consensus” on controversial issues.
France is also hoping that Saudi Arabia would convince its allies in the March 14 camp to agree on a consensus candidate as soon as possible, said the sources.
An agreement on a consensual figure requires concessions by both the March 8 and 14 alliances, they said.
Talks are now focusing on the concessions both camps should make before discussing the name of the compromise candidate and the powerful president who would take his strength from the consensus between the two camps, the sources added.
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