Beirut (Union)
Lebanon descended more and more into crisis yesterday, when Hezbollah and its allies disrupted its rivals’ attempt to elect a senior official in the International Monetary Fund as president, which increases sectarian tensions and highlights the dashed hopes of reviving the collapsed state.
Four years after Lebanon plunged into the worst financial crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, parliament failed for the twelfth time to elect a candidate for the position.
Representatives of the “Hezbollah” militia and its allies, including the “Amal” movement, withdrew from the session to obstruct the efforts of the main parties to elect Jihad Azour, an official in the International Monetary Fund.
The confrontation contributed to the intensification of the division, as one of Hezbollah’s main allies, the National Movement, lined up behind the attempt to elect Azour alongside the anti-Hezbollah factions, including the Lebanese Forces.
Azour, director of the Middle East Department at the International Monetary Fund and former finance minister, won the support of 59 votes out of 128 deputies in Parliament in a preliminary vote, less than the two-thirds required to win in the first round. Suleiman Franjieh, who is supported by the Hezbollah militia and its allies, got 51 votes in the first round.
Then “Hezbollah”, which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization, and its allies withdrew from the session, thereby disrupting the two-thirds quorum required for a second round of voting in which a candidate could win the support of 65 deputies. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri did not set a date for a new session.
Berri addressed the deputies in a statement distributed after the session, “Stop throwing the ball of responsibility at this or that party in prolonging the vacuum, and electing a president for the republic will only be achieved through consensus and the path of dialogue.”
With this result, Lebanon no longer has any immediate possibility of occupying the presidency, which has remained vacant since the end of President Michel Aoun’s term, allied with Hezbollah, in October 2022.
Azour thanked the deputies who voted for him in a statement, expressing his hope that the will expressed by “the majority of deputies” would be respected.
Franjieh also thanked the deputies who voted for him, and expressed his respect for the opinion of those who did not elect him.
Representative Ashraf Rifi, an opponent of Hezbollah, said: “No one is against dialogue, but do not invite me to dialogue to tell me my choice is Suleiman Franjieh. Why am I going to dialogue with you then?”
Representative George Adwan of the “Lebanese Forces” party considered that the vote was a “major victory” because it showed that Azour was close to 65 votes, and ruled out the idea of proposing another candidate.
Former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to arrive in Lebanon next week, after President Emmanuel Macron appointed him to help resolve the crisis.
“You can’t stay in this situation,” said Muhannad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center, referring to the decisions the state must make soon, including agreeing on a replacement for central bank governor Riad Salameh, who faces corruption charges he denies and whose term ends. next July.
Lebanon has been without a government with full powers since the parliamentary elections last year. Sunni Prime Minister Najib Mikati heads a caretaker government within its narrow scope.
Azour, 57, said he wanted to build national unity and implement reforms in a country mired in the deepest crisis since the civil war.
The current financial crisis in Lebanon resulted from decades of corruption and waste on the part of politicians whose own interests obstructed any steps towards addressing it.
The cabinet approved the economic recovery plan in May 2022, despite the objections of pro-Hezbollah ministers. The International Monetary Fund criticized Lebanon for the very slow progress in implementing reforms.
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