Jihad Azour's presidential campaign: Expanding parliamentary support

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2023-06-02 | 01:05
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Jihad Azour's presidential campaign: Expanding parliamentary support
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6min
Jihad Azour's presidential campaign: Expanding parliamentary support

Former Minister Jihad Azour continues his virtual meetings with deputies, whom circumstances prevented him from meeting during his quick visit to Beirut, in an apparent attempt to expand the range of parliamentary support required for his candidacy by the opposition forces, the Free Patriotic Movement, and some independents.    

This article was originally published in and translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan.     

That is why the meetings are intensifying between the parliamentary blocs supporting Azour to put the final touches on the "production" that will be adopted to endorse the intersection between the MPs of the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party, Tajaddod, some of the independents and the MPs of "October 17," in support of Azour's election to the presidency.    

Circles following the contacts between Azour's supporters indicate that deliberation in launching his presidential campaign is linked to the completion of his meetings with some independent and Sunni deputies, including the Moderation Bloc, as well as the other part of the "October 17" deputies, to secure the broadest range of support for him after the positions of those hesitant became clear about the possibility of involving them or intersecting with them on Azour's candidacy and blocking the way for the candidate supported by the Shiite duo, that is, the former minister Sleiman Frangieh. 

Former Minister Azour replaced his "virtual" meeting with the "October 17" deputies via "Zoom," with lengthy bilateral contacts for about an hour with each deputy separately, as the deputies asked him about his position on October 17 and how he approached sovereign issues and Hezbollah's weapons, and judicial files, as well as the investigation into the Beirut Port explosion's case, along with his approach to the recovery plan and other issues.   

According to Nidaa al-Watan, Azour's answers were not devoid of diplomacy to substitute direct answers to some of the issues raised, including Hezbollah's weapons, who linked his approach to the necessity of everyone participating at a dialogue table and researching its future.   

As for getting out of the crisis that Lebanon is going through, he believed it is necessary to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and start implementing the required reforms within the recovery plan. 

As for the position of the "October 17" deputies regarding his support, the deputies, according to Nidaa al-Watan, left to disclose the decision after Azour finished communicating with them, provided that the deputies hold a meeting that paves the way for them to decide their presidential decision in this direction or not.   

This is with the assertion of those concerned that retracting support for Azour has become a thing of the past after the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, and the Kataeb Party reported this intersection to Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi on the eve of his departure to Rome and Paris. 

The same circles indicate that the disagreement over this presidential option also resulted from the success of the bilateral deliberations between Azour and each of the concerned parliamentary blocs, which presented their concerns and demands to him. 

Based on his approach to the files presented and the answers, as well as the guarantees that the parliamentary blocs received from him and related to his ability to keep pace with the anti-corruption campaigns and start the process of reform and building the state, as well as the plans to address the crumbling financial system and the mechanism that he will push to adopt to ensure that depositors recover their money from banks, along with political and sovereign files, and other issues prompted the parliamentary blocs to support him.   

While those concerned in Azour's "presidential cell" leave it to their presidential candidate to determine the timing of announcing his participation in this election or his approach to how to respond to the required reformist political headlines, opposition circles confirm that the official announcement of the convergence of more than 60 deputies on Azour's candidacy for the presidency will take place within hours.    

While it was not clear until late yesterday evening, the final image that the opposition MPs and the Free Patriotic Movement would adopt to announce their presidential candidate in a way that guarantees Azour's independence and privacy.   

Stressing that Azour cannot be considered as a candidate for a team or party to launch his presidential campaign, the deliberations focus on the required output of the declaration, between holding a joint press conference between the opposition to announce this intersection or issuing simultaneous statements about the supporting forces representing more than 60 Representatives to announce Azour's candidacy and demand Speaker Nabih Berri to open the doors of the parliament to elect their "serious" candidate.   

In parallel with the demand of some of them to leave freedom for each parliamentary bloc to express the reasons that prompted it to intersect with others over this presidential option.   

It is assumed that this announcement will take place during the coming hours, which leaves the door open for Azour to communicate with his opponents and urge them to facilitate his move from Nejmeh Square to Baabda in these delicate circumstances that Lebanon is going through.
 

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