Hezbollah MPs will attend June 14 session, vote for Franjieh

Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc said Thursday that its MPs will attend the presidential election session on June 14 and will vote for Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri had also affirmed that his bloc will vote for Franjieh.

"Amal and it's allies will all vote for Franjieh," Berri said in an interview.

Local media reports had expected Franjieh's supporters to boycott the session, cast blank votes, or block the second round's quorum, after the opposition and the FPM agreed on the nomination of former Minister Jihad Azour, claiming that he can get more than 65 votes.

"The MPs might cast blank ballots during the first round and leave before the second round to strip the session of its quorum," a local media report said earlier this week.

Also this week, Ain el-Tineh sources told al-Jadeed that the Shiite Duo has the right to thwart quorum, "exactly as the opposition camp was publicly declaring that it would block quorum to prevent Franjieh from becoming president."

The Shiite Duo has long accused the opposition and the Free Patriotic Movement of nominating Azour as a maneuver against Franjieh's nomination.

Sources told al-Binaa newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that "these parties don't really want Azour. They are nominating him to thwart Franjieh's nomination before ending their agreement and finding other candidates."