Presidential process standstill: Berri's response and Frangieh's dilemma

When President Nabih Berri is asked if he intends to take any action to restore the spirit of the presidential process, he responds negatively, adding that none of the parties "wants a solution from within but from outside."

This article was originally published in, translated from Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar.

When Berri is asked, according to "Al-Akhbar," if he would allow the neglect of electing the president to continue indefinitely, he replies that so far, "there is only one candidate," which is the head of the Marada Movement, Sleiman Frangieh: "The others either no longer present or do not want to run."

However, he added, "Now we have a candidate, Sleiman Frangieh. If they agree on his candidacy, I will call for a session, and they should attend it."

Without delving into discussing the stalled presidential process, Berri reflects on the ongoing deadlock since the twelfth session on June 14.

Only two sessions were held last year, the first on January 19. Before that, in the year of the vacancy, the parliament convened in ten useless sessions from the eve of the end of President Michel Aoun on October 31, 2022, until the end of the year.

Since the session on June 14, no one has talked about the fate of the presidential process. The knot still revolves around Frangieh's nomination more than going toward electing a president as a binding constitutional process.

The stance of the person who supports and opposes him has a stronger impact than breaking free from the vacancy dilemma. More than one candidate during the past phase has gone through the orbit of finding a solution to prevent the election of Franjieh at any cost to those who oppose him, without his supporters being able to force his election.

In the reverse review of the reality of the last few months, Frangieh's withdrawal is still seen by one team as the shortest path to electing a president and by another team as an additional reason for the persistence of the vacancy, clinging to its right to have a candidate and refusing what others reject.