Al-Rahi 'Did Not' Ask Franjieh to Withdraw in Aoun's Favor

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi did not ask Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh to withdraw from the presidential race in favor of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun during their meeting on Monday, patriarchate sources have said.

“The patriarch calls on the Maronite leaders and all Lebanese leaders to reach an agreement over the election of a new president,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

The overnight meeting in Diman was followed by a meeting between Franjieh and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard in Bnashii on Tuesday.

The Bnashii talks tackled “the current situations,” state-run National News Agency said.

During a closed-door meeting in Diman overnight, Franjieh and al-Rahi discussed “the local developments, especially the issue of the presidential vacuum,” NNA said.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.