The choice of voting for Jihad Azour in the presidential elections is “certain and natural,” the Free Patriotic Movement said.

Voting for Azour is aimed at “stressing rejection of the election of the imposed candidate from whom no reform or change of the establishment controlling the country can be hoped,” the FPM’s political council said in a statement.

Former president and Free Patriotic Movement founder Michel Aoun held a meeting Tuesday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The health of a son of Libya's late leader Moammar Gadhafi was deteriorating three days into a hunger strike to protest his detention in Lebanon without trial, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Hannibal Gadhafi was suffering from headaches, muscle pain and difficulties moving around, his lawyer Paul Romanos said. He started his hunger strike Saturday.

MP Hassan Fadlallah of Hezbollah on Tuesday said that Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for a presidential election session refutes the rival camp’s claims that “there won’t be a session because we don’t guarantee the success of our candidate.”

“We have a host of constitutional choices and we are discussing these choices with our allies and friends to take the appropriate stance in the coming session,” Fadlallah added.

Parliament will convene next week to elect a president, amid high tensions between supporters of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh and former minister Jihad Azour.

The opposition and the Free Patriotic Movement said they have agreed on voting for Azour but media reports said Tuesday that at least six FPM MPs will not vote for Azour, even after FPM chief Jebran Bassil met with them and tried to convinced them of voting for the former minister of finance.

The Higher Judicial Council has appointed Judge Habib Rizkallah to look into the judicial standoff between State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat and Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.

Bitar had on February 6 postponed questioning of officials over the dispute with Oueidat.

Presidential candidate Jihad Azour has lamented “the false information that is being circulated about him through media outlets and social networking websites,” a media report said.

“I’m facing a broad disinformation campaign aimed at tarnishing my image and credibility, which is taking advantage of the restraints stipulated by my job” at the International Monetary Fund, Azour told those whom he recently met, according to Al-Arabiya TV.

Hezbollah and Amal are holding ongoing talks to decide on what to do during an upcoming presidential election session on June 14, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday.

One of the ideas that supporters of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh are discussing is whether to attend the session, the daily said.

The Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon and the Samir Kassir Foundation have announced the results of the 18th edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, in a ceremony held at the Sursock Palace Gardens, in Beirut.

This Award, established and funded by the European Union, is widely recognized internationally as a flagship prize for press freedom and the most prestigious journalism award in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region. Since 2006, the Award ceremony has been held annually to commemorate the anniversary of Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir’s assassination, on 2 June 2005 in Beirut, and celebrate his life, his values, and his memory.

Only eleven lawmakers from the Free Patriotic Movement will vote for Jihad Azour in a presidential election session, a media report said on Monday.

Six others will cast blank ballots after they had demanded that one of the FPM legislators be nominated for the presidency, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported.