PSP envoys discuss presidential crisis with Berri, Geagea, Hezbollah

The Progressive Socialist Party kicked off Tuesday a series of meetings with the Lebanese political parties to discuss the ongoing presidential crisis.

In Maarab, a PSP delegation comprising MPs Taymour Jumblat, Marwan Hamadeh, Akram Shehayyeb and Wael Abou Faour met with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, in the presence of MPs Ghassan Hasbani and Nazih Matta.

“Our visit today is not aimed at creating a new initiative or proposing new names and the country’s interest requires constant action in order to put an end to the deadlock, seeing as the country is under major pressure,” Shehayyeb said.

“It is necessary to seriously discuss the common denominators among the political forces in order to reach a president who would unite rather than divide,” Shehayyeb added.

LF sources meanwhile told al-Jadeed television that the party would not accept “any dialogue or consultations that would become the norm prior to any election, because that would violate the constitution.”

However, the LF would accept “consultations in the vein of what happened before and during the session that extended the army chief’s term,” the sources added.

Former minister Ghazi Aridi of the PSP meanwhile held meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri and Hussein Khalil, the political aide of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a PSP statement said.

The meetings are part of “the PSP’s initiative towards the political forces, to encourage them to engage in dialogue and consultations in order to finalize the constitutional junctures, topped by the presidential vote.”