The Lebanese flag lowered to half-mast at the presidential palace in Baabda the day after Michel Aoun's departure, Nov. 1, 2022. (Credit: presidency's Twitter account/File)
BEIRUT — L'Orient-Le Jour obtained on Thursday evening a non-definitive list of potentially consensual presidential candidates whose names are being discussed between Maronite Bishop of Antelias Antoine Bou Najm, in his capacity as emissary of the Patriarchate of Bkirki, and Lebanon's various Christian leaders.
The document obtained bears the following names:
- Michel Moawad, MP for Zgharta, already an official candidate backed by the opposition
- Sleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada Movement and backed by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement
- Joseph Aoun, commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Army, whose name is circulating but who remains an unofficial candidate
- Jihad Azour, former minister and head of the Middle East at the International Monetary Fund
- Ziyad Baroud, former interior minister
- Salah Honein, former MP
- Georges Khoury, former Lebanese ambassador to the Vatican
- Neemat Frem, independent MP for Kesrouan
- Farid Elias el-Khazen, current Lebanese ambassador to the Vatican
- Ibrahim Kanaan, Free Patriotic Movement MP from Metn
- Roger Dib, former minister
Lebanon has been without a president since Oct. 31, the day former president Michel Aoun's term in office ended. Parliament has failed to elect his successor despite having held 11 electoral sessions.
In his last homily, the head of the Maronite Church Bechara al-Rai said that "the election of a president is hampered because of, unfortunately, the disagreement concerning his membership, either to the moumanaa (Hezbollah and its allies), or to the sovereignist camp (which groups the parties hostile to Hezbollah)."
"The only solution is to get out of this equation and that the people work to elect a national president free of any link, any affiliation, any camp or any axis," Rai added.
Bkirki advocates a third way out of the Frangieh-Moawad confrontation. Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have voiced their backing for the leader of Marada, while leaving the door open to dialogue.