The recent visit by French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Lebanon may not mark the end but rather the beginning of a serious path toward resolving the presidential vacuum. However, it remains a matter of wishful thinking for now.
This article was originally published in and translated from the online Lebanese newspaper Al-Anbaa.
Despite the conflicting positions and analyses surrounding the visit, sources familiar with the movements of the French diplomat towards Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and the Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati have indicated that he "sensed a real desire among the parliamentary blocs and deputies he met to get out of the crisis and elect a president at any cost."
The sources told Al-Anbaa that upon his return to Lebanon, Le Drian would give himself sufficient time to review the MPs' responses to his questions. He will then hold a dialogue session with them at the Pine Residence to discuss these answers.
The essence of this discussion will be conveyed to Speaker Berri, who will then engage in discussions to schedule a presidential election session, which is supposed to be open-ended. The Qatari envoy will continue contacts from where Le Drian left off.
MP Bilal Houshaymi emphasized to Al-Anbaa that "there is no solution to the presidential crisis except by adhering to the decisions of the Quintet Committee and relying on ourselves as MPs in electing the president. The solution must be 100 percent Lebanese."
He asked, "Why don't we work for ourselves as Saudi Arabia does today? Is there any need to work for Iran's interests and Iranian weapons, exposing our country to danger, while Iran only cares about its interests and challenges the world, and it will not change its position?"
Houshaymi believed that "any president elected who does not abide by the decisions of the Quintet Committee will face failure."
He expects "an agreement on a Maronite figure that does not provoke anyone, as a consensual president will not be able to form a government that can save the Lebanese economy from collapse, because we will differ on the name of the prime minister, ministers [...], and on the army commander and the governor of the Central Bank, and others. Every entitlement will require dialogue, and that means we will remain in the same whirlpool."
He noted that "the Saudi position revolves around one point" if 'No president has been elected and a government is formed that advances Lebanon as Saudi Arabia wants, it is not obligated to provide support to Lebanon.'"
On his part, member of the National Moderation Bloc, MP Ahmad Rustom, considered in a conversation with Al-Anbaa that he has not seen any progress after the third visit of Jean-Yves Le Drian.
He said, "As long as we continue with the policy of 'breaking heads,' we will not achieve any results. The internal accuses the external, and the external blames the internal, while a wide segment of the Lebanese have not yet realized that the country is governed by settlements."
Rustom believed that "it is impossible to elect a president without internal consensus and minimal dialogue, because the divisions in the country do not allow any faction to elect the president they want, and because the Constitution is clear about securing a majority of 86 deputies in the session."
Amid this ongoing state of discord, the headlines of the dispute between the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, and the General Director of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Imad Othman, came to the forefront.
This prompted the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Taymur Jumblatt, to call for addressing the matter objectively, away from the media, to preserve what remains of the state's institutions.