Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has advised Christian parties not to waste historic opportunities and to agree on a consensual candidate other than Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are in a dispute over the situation in Yemen, so there won't be any mediator to help Lebanese MPs elect a new president, Jumblat said in remarks published on Tuesday.
“That's why my advice to Christian parties is to stop wasting historic opportunities,” the MP told al-Akhbar newspaper. “They are not yet convinced on the importance of a consensual candidate other than Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea.”
Jumblat has backed the candidacy of Aley MP Henri Helou, saying Lebanon needs a centrist president. But the rivalry between Aoun, who heads the Change and Reform bloc, and Geagea has caused a vacuum at Baabda Palace.
MPs from Aoun's bloc in addition to Hizbullah and other March 8 alliance lawmakers have been boycotting parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a new head of state since Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended in May last year.