The Lebanese flag flown at half-mast at the presidential palace in Baabda after the departure of former president Michel Aoun, Nov. 2022. (Credit: Twitter account of the Lebanese presidency)
"France does not have a candidate in Lebanon," said a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday, addressing Lebanese media's recent mention of Paris's possible support for the presidential candidacy of former minister Sleiman Frangieh.
"It is appropriate for the Lebanese to elect their leaders," said Anne-Claire Legendre at a Thursday press briefing, reiterating the official message from Paris in recent months.
Lebanon has been experiencing a political vacuum since former president Michel Aoun's term expired on Oct. 31, 2022, without agreement on a successor. This political crisis has aggravated the country's economic stagnation.
"It is up to the Lebanese actors to take their responsibilities and break the political deadlock to quickly elect a new president," the spokesperson continued, adding that the presidential vacancy "weighs on the Lebanese people first."
Lebanon is experiencing one of the worst economic crises in the world since 1850, according to the World Bank, marked by dizzying hyperinflation, a historic fall in the value of the national currency, unprecedented impoverishment of the population and serious shortages of basic goods.
"It is a question of electing a new president, of forming a full-fledged government that will be able to carry out the reforms that Lebanon and the Lebanese people urgently need in the face of the serious crisis they are going through," added Legendre.
She also indicated that France had "many exchanges with Lebanese political actors."
This article was originally published in French by AFP. Translation by L'Orient Today.
