Lebanese political sources closely monitoring the ongoing communications between competing forces to form electoral lists for the Chouf - Aley district revealed that President Michel Aoun is personally intervening to save the necessary alliance between the "Free National Movement," led by Gibran Bassil, and the heads of the "Arab Unification" party, led by former Minister Wiam Wahhab, and the "Lebanese Democratic" party, led by MP Talal Arslan, as well as the Lebanese Islamic Charity Projects Association (Ahbash).
The sources stated that President Aoun met with Wahhab before heading to Rome to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican. They explained to *Asharq Al-Awsat* that the only obstacle delaying the announcement of the formation of the electoral list competing against the joint list of the "Progressive Socialist Party" and the "Lebanese Forces," as well as other lists from civil society, is Wahhab's insistence on including former Minister Najy al-Bustani on the list, in contrast to Bassil's insistence on nominating MP Freid al-Bustani. Thus, the only solution to the disagreement would be to bring them together on a single list.
The same sources noted that Freid al-Bustani is strongly opposed to running on a joint list with Najy al-Bustani, claiming that he fears being surpassed by him in preferential votes. They said that Bassil is doing his utmost to accommodate the concerns raised by the MP belonging to the "Strong Lebanon Bloc," while President Aoun does not show enthusiasm for including Najy al-Bustani in the list but does not object to his inclusion if it leads to facilitating the list's formation.
They observed that the disagreement remains unresolved, even as Wahhab supports including candidates from the al-Bustani family on the list, with each party steadfast in its position and showing no flexibility. This is particularly true since Bassil insists on recruiting candidates with financial capability to cover financial expenses, which is clearly evident in his choices for most of the lists directly supported by the "Free National Movement." The sources mentioned that time is running out for extending negotiations as Najy al-Bustani is giving the relevant parties a last chance to form the list; otherwise, he will have another option.
In this context, sources revealed that Najy al-Bustani has not ceased communication with the head of the "Progressive Socialist" party, Walid Jumblatt, having asked him for some time to decide about joining the list supported by the "Progressive" and the "Forces" in case negotiations led by Wahhab reach an impasse, especially since both have so far left the third Maronite seat vacant.
Until Najy al-Bustani makes his final decision in the coming hours, the Progressive-Forces list includes George Adwan and Habouba Aoun for the Druze, Bilal Abdallah and Saad al-Din al-Khatib for the Sunnis, and Charles Arabid, head of the Economic and Social Council, for the Catholics, although the Forces had agreed with the "National Liberal" party to nominate Fadi al-Malouf.
However, the divergence between the "Progressive" and the "Forces" will not, in any case, lead to a breakdown of the alliance between the two parties as both parties need each other and there are no alternatives between them. Thus, as their sources claim, they can agree to wait for Najy al-Bustani to state his position to decide together if they will participate in the elections with a complete list for the Chouf constituency, which includes eight parliamentary seats.
Conversely, the list supported by Bassil, Wahhab, Arslan, and the Ahbash will not be complete even if they agree to include candidates from the al-Bustani family on the list, as Wahhab prefers to keep the second Druze seat vacant. Thus, the core of the list will consist of Freid and Najy al-Bustani, Antoine Aboud for the Maronites, Wahhab for the Druze, Osama al-Maoush and Ahmad Najm al-Din (Ahbash) for the Sunnis, and Ghassan Attallah for the Catholics. Meanwhile, attempts are underway to persuade MP Mario Aoun to withdraw his candidacy in light of being excluded by Bassil from the previously announced list of nominees.
It is clear that "Hezbollah" is closely monitoring the efforts to rescue the alliance and prevent it from stumbling, although sources close to its allies in Chouf - Aley confirm that it is not directly intervening in the negotiations currently limited to Bassil, Wahhab, and Arslan, advising them to prioritize consolidating their ranks to be able to conduct a balanced battle against the "Progressive" and "Forces" alliance, knowing that the party and its ally, the "Amal" movement, have a significant Shia presence in the Chouf towns (Joun, Jiyyeh, and Wardaniyeh) as well as in the towns of Qamatia and Kfoun in the Aley district.
Regarding the "Syrian Social Nationalist Party," with its two wings in Rouche, led by its president Rabi Benat and the other led by MP Assad Hardan, there are no candidates from them for the Chouf - Aley district, as their members are essentially an electoral machine that facilitates their transition to voting boxes for the list of their allies in this district.
It has been reported that "Hezbollah" played a role with its ally, the nationalists in both wings, Benat and Hardan, convincing them not to run in this district, as there is a need to consolidate ranks in the face of the "Progressive" and "Forces" coalition to retaliate against them for their fiery positions against the party and its weapon through the resistance axis led by Iran.
Additionally, it has been reported that "Hezbollah" has not lost hope in overseeing the organization of differences between the two wings of the nationalists, ultimately persuading them to favor the stronger candidate in the party for the elections; however, its efforts have so far not yielded positive results, although the party is considering nominating Antoine Jaaja for the Maronite seat in the Baalbek-Hermel district, and Benat's wing has supported his nomination, in addition to nominating Ramzi al-Malouf for the Orthodox seat in the second Beirut district in hopes that the Shia duo will agree to include him in their electoral list.
Therefore, as soon as Najy al-Bustani's candidacy is determined, it will expedite the official announcement of the two competing lists in Chouf, while civil society continues to gather its papers in hopes of forming a united list for the Chouf and Aley district. Meanwhile, the Progressive-Forces alliance is close to forming its list for the Aley district within the single district with Chouf, and the same applies to the alliance of Bassil, Wahhab, and Arslan, although both lists have kept two seats vacant thus far, which are the second Druze seat and the other Maronite seat.
It is expected that the Progressive-Forces list will be composed of Druze Akram Shehayyeb, Maronite Raji al-Saad, and Orthodox Nazeih Matta, unless it is later decided to attach it to the second Maronite seat, while the Bassil-Wahhab-Arslan list will include the latter for the Druze, Cesar Abi Khalil for the Maronites, and Tarek Walid Khairallah for the Orthodox, with Bassil given the freedom to name the second Maronite candidate.
