Report: Aoun Links Election of President to Regional Developments
Head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun rejected the recent reports that spoke of a regional or international settlement to end the political and presidential deadlock in Lebanon, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.
His visitors quoted him as saying however: “We cannot separate the Lebanese file from the situation in Syria.”
“We should therefore wait for solutions to regional crises” to end Lebanese ones,” he added.
“Given this position, Aoun refuses to abandon his nomination for the presidency in favor of Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh,” said his visitors.
He revealed that he had informed the lawmaker that he does not intend to withdraw from the presidential race, saying that he is entitled to run for the post along with anyone else who wants to.
Aoun and Franjieh had held talks on Wednesday.
Media reports had recently said that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran had discussed Lebanese affairs on the margins of a Vienna meeting on the Syrian crisis.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced on Friday however no such talks had taken place.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.
Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.
Recent efforts to end the vacuum saw Franjieh emerge as a presidential candidate as part of a greater settlement that would revitalize the political scene in the country.
The initiative, launched by Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri, has however been met with the reservations of the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb Party, and the Free Patriotic Movement.
Hizbullah, Aoun's ally, is also still reportedly committed to his nomination.
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