A hidden pole threatens the presidential session

It was stated in “Call of the Nation”:

Nineteen months after the last session to elect the President of the Republic, on June 14, 2023, a new session will be held, which may not be the last, to elect the president, after the new rabbit launched by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri regarding the suspension of the session.

Session of June 14, 2023, in which General Joseph Aoun received one vote, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives did not cancel it.

Thus, from one vote in June 2023, to the number of votes he will receive today, on January 9, 2025. Based on the required votes, General Aoun becomes “His Excellency President Joseph Aoun.” Despite the optimism that prevailed throughout the day yesterday as the blocs continued to support it, this optimism dispelled the ambiguity of the positions of the “Shiite duo” and the National Movement by the evening, and we returned to the whirlpool of constitutional interpretations. In any case, the momentum remains strong for a satisfactory result today, unless President Berri takes out the remaining rabbits up his sleeve.

Things developed at an amazing speed yesterday with the return of the Saudi envoy to Lebanon, Prince Yazid bin Muhammad bin Fahd Al-Farhan, to Beirut. It was clear that the Kingdom that nominated General Aoun would not back down, and all the naysayers and objectors had to do was review their accounts.

Yesterday, the situation changed rapidly:

The most prominent meeting was in Maarab, whose role appeared to be pivotal, and it included the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Dr. Samir Geagea, the head of the Phalange Party, Sami Gemayel, and MPs Ashraf Rifi, Michel Moawad, Wadah al-Sadiq, Michel al-Duwaihi, Mark Daou, Adib Abdel Masih, Nadeem Gemayel, Salim al-Sayegh, Elias Hankash, Strida Geagea, and Ghassan Hasbani. George Okais, and Fouad Makhzoumi, who read the statement of the conferees who decided Supporting the election of General Joseph Aoun for the presidency.

The meeting was preceded by a meeting between General Aoun and the forces, in which the national files were discussed, which reassured the forces of the path that Aoun would follow if he reached the presidency.

Among the developments, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri received a phone call from Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ati, during which developments in the general situation in Lebanon and the region were discussed. The Egyptian Minister praised the efforts made by President Berri to achieve consensus between the Lebanese forces to achieve the presidential election.

In parallel, the Development and Liberation Bloc, after its meeting headed by President Nabih Berri, MP Dr. Ayoub Hamid announced on its behalf, “We are in favor of consensus and there will be no absolute position. There will be successive sessions regarding the presidential election. Each matter has its own merit. We stressed the necessity of consensus, and our position is unified with Hezbollah.”

Hezbollah representative Hassan Fadlallah responded to what was published attributed to the duo’s sources, declaring, “We announce our position tomorrow (today) at the ballot box, and we do not adopt all the information that is published before the vote, and we will vote according to what is consistent with our national conviction.”

While Speaker Berri had previously announced that he would keep the sessions open and would not suspend them except for Friday prayers and Sunday Mass, he detonated a bomb at night that might reshuffle the cards. Information circulated that he might suspend the session after the first session for several days to reach consensus.

The Democratic Meeting Bloc met in the presence of Walid Jumblatt and renewed its firm position by confirming the election of General Joseph Aoun to the presidency.

The dual candidate “Amal – Hezbollah”, head of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Franjieh, announced his withdrawal from the electoral race. He said in a statement through his media office: “As conditions have been met to elect a president of the republic tomorrow (today), I announce the withdrawal of my candidacy, which was not One day he is an obstacle to the election process. I am, in line with what I have declared in previous positions, a supporter of General Joseph Aoun, who has the characteristics of preserving the position of the First Presidency.

Former Minister, lawyer Ziad Baroud, announced his reluctance to run, and here a question was raised: What about the representatives who announced that they would give their votes to Minister Baroud? Where will these votes go after his reluctance to run?

The banner of the OTV news presenter, the mouthpiece of the Free Patriotic Movement, was at the beginning, which stated, “Tomorrow, if something unthinkable does not happen, the vacuum will end, and the army commander will be elected president of the republic.”

However, on the other hand, Antoine Constantine, advisor to the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, revealed that the bloc’s representatives will exercise their duties and their right to secret ballot tomorrow, and he continued: “We reject the vacuum and must exercise the constitutional right and deal with any fait accompli according to the development of matters, and objection is a legitimate right.”

So, today’s session’s fate depends on what was reported from Speaker Berri’s sources. Will the presidency of the third republic emerge from the bottleneck? Or do you need later sessions?