Report: March 14 Discusses 'Bkirki List' over Presidential Election Crisis

The March 14 alliance leaders, who held a meeting at the Center House on Thursday night, revived discussions on a proposal to back a former minister to the presidency, sources said.

The coalition's sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that the March 14 officials are mulling whether the rival parties could agree on a consensual candidate from the so-called “Bkirki list.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi had proposed to name former Ministers Ziad Baourd, Demianos Kattar or Roger Deeb as consensual candidates over the differences between the March 8 and 14 camps on who should occupy the country's top Christian post.

The sources said that the discussions on the three figures were revived after the parliament failed on Thursday for the fifth time in a row to elect a new head of state, two days before President Michel Suleiman's six-year term expires.

Politicians have warned that a presidential vacuum would be a setback to the country's institutions and a blow to the Christians and mainly the Maronite sect.

According to the country's power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite, the prime minister a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.

Christian parties are now planning to boycott parliamentary sessions in response to the looming vacuum.

The March 14 alliance’s officials held a meeting at the Center House on Thursday night to assess Thursday’s session and the stage that would come after May 25.

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