War of Lists Began Soon After Sfeir Submitted Candidate Names
Speculation over the names of Presidential candidates reached fever pitch soon after Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir submitted his list in hope of ending a crisis threatening to derail a gloomy election.
Andre Parant, France”s Charge D”Affaires, told reporters after meeting with Sfeir on Friday that the prelate had authorized him to confirm that Speaker Nabih Berri and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri had each been given a list of names to hash over.
“It is now up to Berri and Hariri to meet in order to try and reach consensus based on this list,” Parant said.
Both Berri and Hariri remained secretive about the list.
A Lebanese official, however, said that the list handed over by Sfeir included three declared candidates — Nassib Lahoud and Boutros Harb, both of whom are backed by the ruling majority, and Gen. Michel Aoun from the opposition.
The official said three other names were added to the list — Robert Ghanem, a lawyer and member of parliament, Joseph Tarabay, who heads the board of the Union of Arab Banks and the Association of Lebanese Banks and Damianos Qattar, who served as finance minister in the interim government of former Prime Minister Najib Mikati in 2005.
The daily As Safir, citing diplomatic European sources, said the list includes between six and seven names.
It said that while Aoun, Harb and Nassib Lahoud are confirmed candidates, three others have not been verified.
They are, in addition to Ghanem, former cabinet minister Michel Edde and Michel Khoury.
As Safir said the name of the seventh nominee was still under circulation.
Al Akhbar newspaper, however, said Sfeir”s list included 12 names divided into four categories:
Group 1- Political: it includes Aoun, Harb, Lahoud.
Group 2- Consensus candidates: it includes — in addition to Ghanem, Khoury and Edde — Faris Bouiz and Pierre Dakkash.
Group 3- Economical: it includes Tarabay, Qattar and Lebanon”s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.
Group 4- Military: it includes army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman.
Lebanon”s president must be a Maronite Christian according to the country”s confessional power-sharing system and is elected by parliament rather than by popular suffrage.
Three special parliament sessions to elect a successor to Lahoud have already been postponed because of the deadlock and there are fears that a last-chance vote on November 21 could meet the same fate.
News after Sfeir submitted the list reflected optimism on Lebanon”s presidential election and raised the possibility that a consensus president could be agreed upon before Wednesday”s session to elect a new head of state, the daily An Nahar reported Saturday.
In a conciliatory tone, the first contact was made by Druze leader Walid Jumblat when he phoned Berri to assure him that “national unity and dialogue are above all.”
Another surprising development appeared when MP Michel Murr gave a distinct stance in regards to the elections, announcing from Bkirki that he would support any president chosen from Sfeir”s list even if Gen.
Michel Aoun and Hizbullah did not agree with him on the name.
Hariri, meanwhile, said he believed there could be a “breakthrough” at any moment and that he was confident the election would take place by the constitutional deadline.
“It could happen at any time, we”re good to go,” Hariri told AFP. “We don”t seek a presidential void and we want to elect a president.”
He added that French efforts to end the crisis had broad support with only Damascus and its local allies voicing opposition.
“The attacks on the French initiative are coming from one source — Syria and its tools,” he said.
Sfeir”s list was awaited anxiously in Lebanese circles in hope it would prompt the ruling majority and the Hizbullah-led opposition to agree on a candidate by a November 23 deadline.
The two sides have been at loggerheads over who should succeed the current pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud, prompting fears that two parallel governments could be formed.