BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun will decide Thursday whether to continue to move forward with plans for the “urgent national dialogue” he called for in December, sources at the Presidential Palace told L’Orient Today. Following consultations with assorted political groups held by the president over the past two days, it appears only Hezbollah and a few parties aligned to the Shiite party are in favor of the talks.
Here’s what we know:
• Launched on Dec. 27, Aoun's call for dialogue is an attempt to address a list of pressing issues, including he national defense strategy, the economic recovery plan, and administrative and financial decentralization.
• On Wednesday, Aoun received in Baabda his son-in-law, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil, who after the meeting said he remains in favor of holding a dialogue even if it does not include all political parties.
• Bassil also stressed that those who do not want to participate in the dialogue “refuse to find solutions” and accused them of boycotting it for “electoral and political reasons” — a clear criticism aimed at Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Joumblatt, Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh and Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea, all of whom rejected the president’s appeal for a dialogue.
• Earlier Wednesday, Aoun met a delegation from the Consultative Gathering bloc, which comprises Sunni parliamentarians close to the Syrian regime. “We can only be in favor of dialogue, especially in the context of the current circumstances in the country,” bloc member Faisal Karami said following the meeting.
• The president also met with MP Assaad Hardan, who heads the parliamentary group of the Syrian Socialist National Party, and MP Hagop Pakradounian representing Tachnag. “We are in favor of dialogue … and we thank the president for his invitation,” Hardan said. Pakradounian confirmed his participation in the dialogue as well.