Mashnouq: New President before 2017, No Security Appointments before Election

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stressed Thursday that Lebanon will have a new president before the end of 2016, while noting that there will be no new security appointments before the election of the new president.

“Until now we are committed to the (presidential) nomination of (ex-)minister (Suleiman) Franjieh,” Mashnouq said in an interview with LBCI television, referring to al-Mustaqbal Movement of ex-PM Saad Hariri.

Mashnouq noted, however, that “no one waits forever for unknown developments in which they have no say under the slogan of committing to something that cannot be achieved.”

Asked whether he is optimistic that a president can be elected soon, the minister said “there will be a president before the end of the year.”

“I still insist – there will be a presidential election before the end of the year in Lebanon,” he reiterated.

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.