Pessimism over Le Drian's call for September dialogue

Official political sources have cast doubt on the success chances of the dialogue that French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian has called for in a bid to break the presidential deadlock.

It is not guaranteed that this dialogue will succeed, “wherever it might be held, whether in parliament or at the French embassy at the Pine Residence, seeing as only Le Drian has shown seriousness, whereas the parties are clearly not serious about engaging in a responsible dialogue that would eventually lead to consensus over a president,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

Opposition parliamentary sources meanwhile told the daily that they do not see “any chance for agreeing with Hezbollah on a president.”

“Our participation in dialogue would not at all mean that we would be giving up our candidate, ex-minister Jihad Azour. We will take part under this ceiling while showing openness towards any convicning alternative proposal,” the sources said.

“Our final decision is that we will not cede the presidency to Hezbollah and we will confront any attempt in this direction wherever it may come from,” the sources added.