Countdown to presidential election: Berri urges immediate action on new president and Central Bank governor

Apart from the optimism expressed by Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday regarding the end of the presidential vacuum next month, there are no significant new presidential developments except for the French side's determination in the past 24 hours to inform those concerned in Beirut that Paris is committed to supporting the settlement that leads to the election of Sleiman Frangieh as president.

The intense movement related to the presidential elections is expected to take on a more aggressive character in the next four weeks in a race with the Quincy meeting for Lebanon scheduled to be held in Qatar after about a month. The French, as well as Frangieh's allies, fear that the Doha meeting may turn into a settling of accounts between the five parties (the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar).

 

Therefore, the team supporting Frangieh's nomination must provide a sufficient number of votes before the meeting so that his opponents cannot take advantage of their failure in the Quincy meeting to call for another option based on the expired French initiative without results.

However, since the suspension of the presidential election sessions on January 19 last year, Berri has shown optimism regarding the end of the presidential vacuum next month, speaking about a path that suggests its speed in advance. This includes forming a new government that represents it before parliament and appointing a new governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon before July 31, the end of the term of Riad Salameh.

Berri explained that "everything that follows the presidential elections is not a problem. The first governments of any new era are formed quickly, and nothing impedes them in harmony with the will to help the new president get started. The most important thing afterward is that we must stop what we have become accustomed to in forming governments."

Moreover, he resolved the debate about two issues. Firstly, there will be no 12th session to elect a president until it is confirmed what it will lead to.

"I will not call for a session that is not certain of its usefulness and result. The only session that I will call for is the election of the president, not the return to the mockery that we witnessed in the past sessions and the waste of time," he said.

Secondly, the election of the president next month is expected.

"It is no longer permissible to continue the vacuum for more than what has passed. The president must be elected in June. The situation cannot be delayed any further, and we are on the verge of another urgent matter, which is the appointment of a new governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon," stressing that a new governor cannot be appointed unless a president of the republic is elected and an Army Commander is appointed. "We must consider this reality as long as we live in it."

As for whether it means there will be no governor before the president is elected, Berri answered, "the election of the president and then the appointment of the governor," putting an end to all that is rumored about the possibility of the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati resorting to appointing a successor to Riad Salameh, whom Mikati insisted is not considering extending his term for a sixth time.

Meanwhile, politicians who met with the Qatari delegation led by Jassim Al-Thani pointed out that the latter used more than one language in his visits to various political parties.

In his meetings with the party supporting the nomination of the head of the Marada Movement, he insisted on neutrality. He stressed the importance of consensus among the Lebanese on the candidacy of the next president and noted that Doha does not have a negative stance towards Frangieh.

However, in meetings with opposition parties to Frangieh's nomination, he warned that failure to reach an agreement on a presidential candidate among the opposition parties would result in Frangieh's success.

Finally, he also mentioned that the specifications required for the next president are similar to those of Army Commander Joseph Aoun. His election would facilitate obtaining Arab and international aid and open more doors for solutions to Lebanon's problems than any other candidate.