Regardless of the seriousness of the French presidential mediator Jean-Yves Le Drian's efforts and the possibility of achieving the proposed goal, the bet has returned to the positive development in relations between Gulf Arab states and Iran, through the "American corridor," which is becoming increasingly recognized as essential for maturing the Lebanese presidential pathway.
On the eve of the Quintet meeting in New York today to evaluate Le Drian's mission, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland emphasized the need for Lebanese parties to expedite the election of a new president, confirming her country's support for any Lebanese dialogue.
While the Quintet, with strong encouragement from Qatar, is closer than ever to converging on the nomination of Army Commander Joseph Aoun, leading to a consensus for his election, parliamentary sources have observed serious mobilization from the Free Patriotic Movement and its leader to counter this direction by closing doors to President Nabih Berri's call for dialogue.
Informed political sources expressed to "Al-Liwaa" their belief that the statement issued by the Quintet will provide an indicator regarding the forthcoming direction in the presidential entitlement, questioning whether the same position will be reiterated regarding the completion of this entitlement and calling on officials to fulfill their duties in this matter, or if there will be a new stance issued.
The sources stated that any signal from the resistance team regarding its readiness to explore the third option has not been announced, pending some details and the dialogue file, while the opposition team has also not decided its next step. In any case, everyone is awaiting external developments, indicating that the Qatari envoy's movements are also working on the presidential file in a manner that can reshape Qatar's initiative.
Political sources described the narrative promoted by both political sides regarding the presidential election as indicative of a continuous effort to waste time while awaiting the maturation of external understandings concerning Lebanon, particularly between the United States and the Quintet countries and Iran, especially after the French mediation by Le Drian has proven to be ineffective.
Sources noted that after Le Drian's recent visit to Lebanon, each party claims to have convinced the French envoy of its viewpoint, indicating a continuation of spinning in a vortex without achieving any tangible progress toward resolving the presidential void crisis, considering the current situation as one where "each party sings for its own tune," leaving the country and its citizens' interests as a secondary concern.
Sources observed the Shiite duo's candidate Sleiman Frangieh's deliberate strategy, following Le Drian's visit, to increase the appearances of his supporters, prominently featuring his son Deputy Tony Frangieh and prior Minister of Information, to assert Frangieh's ongoing candidacy for the presidency, denying all statements from the opposition suggesting Frangieh's exclusion from the equation and advocating for a consensus candidate favored by the parliamentary majority.
According to the sources, the duo's position might change to support the consensus candidate at Frangieh's expense, especially as it has been reported that Army Commander General Joseph Aoun is ahead of all consensus candidates. Consequently, clear objections were observed from Frangieh's supporters in televised appearances against General Aoun's candidacy for the presidency.
While political forces continue to revolve in the same vortex without anyone proposing an acceptable or seriously debatable initiative regarding the presidential entitlement, political attention has shifted to New York with the arrival of President Najib Mikati yesterday, coming from London where he stayed for several days.
In New York, he held meetings yesterday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and representatives from international organizations and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Mikati participated in the high-level political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the General Assembly, on the eve of the commencement of the UN General Assembly's proceedings in New York, where Deputy Inaaya Azzeen also participated as the head of the Women's and Children's Parliamentary Committee.
