Franjieh Still in Presidential Race: Allies Won't Ask Me to Withdraw Nomination
Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh stressed on Friday that his allies will not ask him to draw back his nomination for the top state post and assured that his candidacy for the presidential race is still valid.
“My allies will not ask me to withdraw my nomination and my candidacy for the presidency still stands,” declared Franjieh after a meeting he held with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.
Slamming media reports alleging that al-Mustaqbal Movement head ex-PM Saad Hariri might reconsider his nomination for Franjieh, the latter said: “Hariri's initiative with regard to the presidency still stands. Reports that my nomination has been withdrawn are untrue.”
Nevertheless, Franjieh assured that he will not obstruct the election of any figure that garners national consensus, he stated: “We will not stand in the face of anyone who garners national consensus.”
Reports claimed recently that Hariri will soon agree on electing founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun instead of his initial nominee Franjieh.
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.
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.
Source: Naharnet
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