Lebanon: Jean-Yves Le Drian's September presidential proposal facing challenges

French special envoy has suggested a cross-parliamentary working meeting

“Could someone explain why Parliament did not succeed during its successive sessions in electing a president?” were the words of Lebanon's senior Christian Maronite cleric Bechara Al Rai at his Sunday sermon, as the country's presidential vacuum lumbered into its nine month.

The deadlock will continue at least into September, when French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to return for his third visit and latest bid to forge a path for the next resident of the presidential palace in Baabda.

But that trip is already facing challenges, only a week after the envoy's departure from Lebanon.

“Our concern is not Mr Le Drian’s efforts ... our concerns are never about Mr Le Drian or his good intentions,” said a source from the Lebanese Forces, parliament's largest party and a strong critic of the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese armed group and political party Hezbollah.

Mr Le Drian's had proposed – although a formal agenda has yet to be submitted – a cross-parliamentary round-table or working group of sorts.

The idea has been received cautiously from a bloc of MPs – sometimes referred to as the opposition – which holds more than a third of the seats in the deeply divided 128-seat parliament, according to three sources within the group who spoke to The National.

It is a bloc comprising parties and independents deeply opposed to Hezbollah and the stranglehold they say it has over Lebanon.

The issue? While they deeply appreciate the efforts of the former French foreign minister to end the deadlock, they say the place for discussion is via the ballot box inside parliament and not outside. What they really want is a return to presidential election sessions, with only two held so far this year.

“These kinds of discussions should happen under the roof of the parliament,” one source said.

They see little point in sitting down with their opponents, the Shiite duo of Hezbollah and Amal, which they accuse of holding the legislature to ransom and for failing to make any past concessions. They want them to drop support for their main candidate Suleiman Frangieh.

“Our concerns are about our fellow Lebanese who are deliberately obstructing everything related to the constitution, normal processes,” the source said.

The agenda of the meeting proposed for next month has yet to be outlined by France. Once received, the bloc's MPs will assess it, they say.

“The opposition will meet and decide, according to the agenda, whether they attend or not. But the clear position is that the election of the president takes place in parliament, not at a table,” said another source from the group.

“And if they need to consider going to a table, they have to see the conditions – and it should be that Suleiman is not a candidate any more,” they added.

Twelve sessions in parliament have failed to find a successor to Michel Aoun, who left the presidential position last October.

Nabih Berri, the leader of the Amal Movement and long-time speaker, most recently called MPs to parliament for a presidential election session in June after a five-month hiatus. He has repeatedly called for dialogue between the various factions and sees little point in scheduling new sessions if the result is the same – deadlock.

Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah has also hit out at unnamed "political forces" who he accuses of rejecting cross-party dialogue.

The bloc sometimes referred to as the 'opposition' includes the LF, its Christian-led ally the Kataeb Party and Independent MPs.

It had voted for MP Michel Moawad as its nomination for president in the first 11 sessions but failed to come close to the required threshold. In those sessions Amal and Hezbollah cast blank ballots. The two Shiites formally announced their backing for Mr Frangieh earlier this year.

The anti-Hezbollah bloc then formed a rare “convergence” with major Christian party the Free Patriotic Movement to back International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour in a bid to end the impasse. That came after Mr Moawad withdrew his faltering campaign and announced his support for Mr Azour.

But after Mr Berri ended the hiatus and called MPs back to parliament in June, neither Mr Azour (59) nor Mr Frangieh (51) were able to secure enough votes to end the vacuum.

A point of contention that particularly angers the 'opposition' is the perceived failure of its rivals to even consider making concessions and back down from Mr Frangieh. They highlight the fact Mr Moawad withdrew his candidacy and backed Mr Azour in a bid to end the stalemate.

“Michel Moawad, I think he is one of the best candidates that we have,” said Fouad Makhzoumi, an influential independent MP in the bloc.

“They said 'no, we don’t want him, he's against us.' Ok, fine, so we went to Jihad Azour … ‘no, no this is not good enough.’

“We’re not going to keep dropping our standards until we get to the point that we will choose their candidate.”

To become the next Lebanese president, a two-thirds parliamentary majority is required in the first round of voting. A second round requires only an absolute majority of 65 – but typically Amal and Hezbollah MPs have left the room to deprive parliament of its quorum before it can take place.

“We don’t need a working meeting because we have a parliament in session. So we are in a work meeting if you want. And we have been there [for 12 sessions],” the LF source said.

“Our main concern is not a question of calling for a meeting, it’s not a question of having the goodwill to go to the meeting. It’s … our fellow Lebanese who have shown no intention so far to elect a president. They tried to force their candidate through.”

The LF source said they wanted guarantees that if such a work meeting took place, that parliament would remain in session, while questioning who would be able to offer such provisions.

“Work meeting about what? So that Mr Nasrallah can delegate [Hezbollah parliamentary leader] Mohammad Raad to try to preach to us why we should elect Suleiman Frangieh? This is not a work meeting.”