Previously, President Saad Hariri held the hand of most Sunni deputies to the presidential palace, "one foot in front of the other." He would name "the President of the Republic" or his uncle as his candidate for the premiership in the presence of the president before announcing the stance before journalists in the courtyard of the palace. This time, the head of the Future Movement is absent from the parliamentary consultations, and the Sunni deputies will individually head to Baabda, as evidenced by the schedule of appointments distributed by the General Directorate of the Presidency.
Except for the Northern Alliance block, which includes 7 deputies, 5 of whom are Sunni, and the Charitable Projects Association block with 2 Sunni deputies (Adnan Traboulsi and Taha Najjar), along with some deputies who have joined major parliamentary blocs (Yanal Salih, Melhem Al-Hajjiri, Qassem Hashem, and Mohammed Yahya), each Sunni deputy will enter the hall alone, where President Michel Aoun will sit at the front.
Moreover, the 13 deputies aligned with the Forces of Change (including 4 Sunnis) will also attend individually, although they are expected to hold a meeting in the coming days to come up with a unified stance. Reports suggest their options will be limited to Nawaf Salam and Judge Janah Obaid.
This situation will also apply to the deputies attending the meeting today at Deputy Nabil Badr's house, namely the Northern Alliance deputies: Walid Al-Baarini, Abdul Karim Kabbara, Mohammed Suliman, Abdul Aziz Al-Samad, Ahmad Al-Khair, Saji' Atieh, and Ahmad Rustum, as well as deputies Bilal Al-Hachimi and Imad Al-Hout. They are expected to agree on naming Prime Minister Najib Mikati during the parliamentary consultations. They justify this by stating that "the national responsibility necessitates not wasting time, especially since many issues await the new government, which will not last more than a few months, after which a Sunni figure may be identified to head the government," as Hachimi told "Al-Akhbar."
Conversely, following sources suggest that the meeting at Badr's house may fail at the last moment, with reports of discontent among the Northern Alliance block regarding holding the meeting at Badr's house, even if they commit to a unified stance by naming Mikati. Some believe that the real reason for undermining the meeting lies in pressure from some Future Movement officials on the deputies of the block to sabotage any Sunni coalition.
As for the independent deputies, most of them have yet to finalize their decisions. Deputy Ashraf Rifi states that he has not yet discussed names with Deputy Fouad Makhzoumi, although some suspect that Rifi might agree to name Makhzoumi or the two may decide not to name anyone. This is echoed by Deputy Abdul Rahman Al-Bizri, who will coordinate his position with his colleague Osama Saad, affirming that there are no clear options regarding the name as of today. It is expected that the two deputies of the Charitable Projects Association, along with deputies Hasan Murad and Jihad Al-Samad, will name Prime Minister Najib Mikati for the position.
