Will PSP succeed in breaking stubborn presidential crisis?

The Progressive Socialist Party kicked off this week a series of meetings with the Lebanese political parties in a bid to break a knotty presidential impasse, few days after French special envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, left Beirut empty-handed.

In Maarab, a PSP delegation met with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and MPs Ghassan Hasbani and Nazih Matta, while Former minister Ghazi Aridi held meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri and Hussein Khalil, the political aide of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Most of the blocs that the PSP met were responsive and showed positivity, with the exception of the LF, al-Joumhouria newspaper said Friday.

A prominent political source told al-Joumhouria that the PSP's meetings will resume next week with the Lebanese Forces and other opposition forces, and that the initiative's goal is to secure quorum for a presidential election session and to move to consultations if MPs fail to elect a president after four rounds of votes.

Berri has called for a dialogue to break the impasse. He insisted that only dialogue would solve the presidential crisis, while the LF refused a dialogue chaired by Berri.

The United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar, have called for consultations and a third-man solution.

The quintet would help the PSP if needed, the source said.

Since the end of President Michel Aoun's mandate in October 2022, Parliament has been unable to elect a successor, with both Hezbollah and its opponents not having the required majority to elect a candidate.

The deadlock comes as the country is plunged into a deep economic crisis, and the war in Gaza triggering violence between Hezbollah and the Israeli army in the south.