When will Lebanon's parliament return to elect a new president?

MPs returned on Wednesday after a five-month hiatus to try to select the next head of state - and failed

When will Lebanon’s long-time parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri call MPs for another presidential election session? Not anytime soon, it would seem, as a new war of words begins.

After a five-month hiatus following 11 inconclusive sessions in the deeply divided legislature, the 128 MPs returned to cast their ballot on Wednesday. And while two new candidates emerged, the conclusion was the same – deadlock, and no president.

“Of course he wants to call [another session], but now we are in another deadlock,” a source within the Amal Movement, the party led by Mr Berri, told The National.

Amal, its Shiite ally Hezbollah and a handful of other MPs, gave 51 votes to Suleiman Frangieh, a childhood friend of Syria’s Bashar Al Assad.

On the other side, Lebanon’s largest Christian parties formed a rare “convergence” behind senior International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour, who received 59 votes.

“He will do it if there is a possibility that there is change,” said the Amal source, when asked what Mr Berri wanted to happen to schedule another session.

But in the moments after Wednesday’s vote, if anything, it would seem the various factions are only hardening their stances.

“Listen to the news, listen to their declarations. You will see you are in the same place,” said the Amal source.

“Will you repeat hitting your head on the same wall? What will you get? Pain? For what?”

Rallying against Hezbollah

The group backing Mr Azour was comprised of a bloc comprising parties and independents deeply opposed to the powerful Iran-backed armed group and political party Hezbollah, and the stranglehold they say it holds over Lebanon.

That bloc, comprised of around a third of parliament, had backed MP Michel Moawad in the first 11 rounds – but his campaign faltered and he withdrew.

After months of talks, the anti-Hezbollah bloc came to a “convergence” with traditional rival the Free Patriotic Movement, one of parliament’s largest parties, to back Mr Azour. Though a disparate group, they came to an understanding on one thing – blocking Mr Frangieh’s entrance to the presidential palace in Baabda.

“We can never be convinced by Mr Frangieh because we know what he represents and what would be his plan,” said a source from the Lebanese Forces, parliament’s largest party and a strident critic of Hezbollah.

“He’s the candidate of Hezbollah. We will never be convinced by any candidate of Hezbollah,”

“We have the strength and the determination to finish this battle. We’re not playing.”

Both sides believe the other's candidate has hit their vote ceiling, with the Amal source claiming Mr Azour’s candidacy was “finished” and that the bloc behind him would break.

“If they want to change to somebody else, OK, tell us who you want. We have Frangieh – tell us why you don’t want Frangieh.

“You may ask, ‘why are you stuck to Frangieh?’ We need a statesman. Azour is not a statesman. I'm not against him personally, but hold on Jihad – this is the presidency, this is in Lebanon where everything is undermined,” the source said.

The Lebanese Forces source countered that Mr Azour had ultimately got more votes, while also extolling the experience of the IMF official.

“Hezbollah has been in contact with most parliamentarians to try to convince them to go with Frangieh. This is what they got, 51. They are saying that we will dissociate sooner or later? The only group who dissociated was the Hezbollah alliance,” the source said, referring to the fact that it’s long-time ally the FPM has broken away and formed the “convergence” with its traditional rivals to back Mr Azour.

Call for dialogue

Both Mr Azour and Mr Frangieh fell short of the two-thirds majority required in the first round of voting. There was no second round after some MPs who backed Mr Frangieh left the room and the two-thirds quorum was lost. The second round would have required an absolute majority of 65 votes.

Backers of Mr Azour were incensed because they believe that if the quorum had not been lost, they would have secured the 65 votes needed to get the IMF official elected. The Amal source laughed, saying this premise was “ridiculous”.

Backers of each candidate hold differing viewings on what should happen next.

Mr Berri has called for dialogue, with the Amal source adding that to get a president elected a common understanding must be found.

Asked if they would be prepared to move away from Mr Frangieh if another suitable candidate came up, the source said: “Let [the other side] come to dialogue, they will be convinced by Frangieh. That's why they don’t want to come for dialogue. They are avoiding dialogue because they know they have no other solution.”

The Lebanese Forces source said this premise was “really hilarious. They always have a different interpretation of things.

“The biggest thing that made me laugh was that we are afraid to meet for dialogue because we are afraid to be convinced? As if firstly, we are kids and we don’t stand strong to our beliefs. And second, as if they have the best candidate in the world!”

The Lebanese Forces source later added: “We dare Speaker Berri, and through him his ally [Hezbollah] and even their candidate Mr Frangieh … let them commit to stay in parliament for round two and let's see who can win.

“It’s not a game of dialogue at all, they have been saying this for the past 10 months … It is elections! How do they think? They got 51, we got 59. For them 51 is greater than 59.”