Bahaa Hariri is received by Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai in Rome on Tuesday. (Credit: @bahaa_hariri_)
BEIRUT — Bahaa Hariri, whose political party is set to field some 30 candidates in legislative elections scheduled for May 15, met with Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai in Rome on Tuesday.
Here’s what we know:
• Hariri, who is the son of Lebanon’s assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and brother of Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, shared on his Twitter account that he and Rai agreed on the “need to preserve the Lebanese constitution and to resort to it in political and national life” and “the necessity of respecting international legitimacy, implementing the resolutions issued by the United Nations, and strengthening Lebanon’s international and Arab relations.” The pair also “discussed the importance of declaring Lebanon’s neutrality.”
• The Maronite patriarch has been in Rome attending the summit of Eastern Churches since the weekend.
• On Feb. 13 Hariri announced that his party, Sawa li Lubnan, will put forward around 30 candidates in May’s legislative elections. However, so far the businessman, who has been living outside Lebanon for 17 years, has remained evasive about his own candidacy, remarking that it is not a priority issue for the moment.
• Hariri’s political activity comes after his brother Saad, also a former prime minister, announced his withdrawal from politics and his boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections.