Lebanon leaders prepare for new bid to elect president

Lebanese political heavyweights held talks Wednesday as parliament prepares to elect a president, with foreign powers pressuring for consensus a day ahead of the vote.

The tiny Mediterranean country, already deep in economic and political crisis, has been without a president for more than two years amid bitter divisions between Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah and its opponents.

With Hezbollah weakened by war with Israel, Lebanon's politicians have come under renewed external pressure to pick a head of state.

Army chief Joseph Aoun, 60, is widely seen as the frontrunner, with backers of his candidacy saying he might be the man to oversee the rapid deployment of the military in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of a November 27 ceasefire that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war, the armed movement is to pull its fighters away from areas near the border, leaving only the national army to deploy there alongside UN peacekeepers.

Hezbollah has backed former minister Sleiman Frangieh, but on Wednesday he withdrew his candidacy and threw his support behind Aoun, saying the army chief had the right "qualifications".

In a country still scarred by a 1975-1990 civil war, the divided ruling class usually agrees on a candidate before any successful parliamentary vote is held.

But a dozen previous attempts to choose a new leader have failed. The term of the last president, Michel Aoun, ended in October 2022.

He is not related to army chief Jospeh Aoun.

- 'Urgency' -

French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Lebanon to help push for a successful vote.

A French diplomatic source said Le Drian had met with the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohammad Raad as well as other lawmakers.

The envoy insisted "on the urgency of electing a president", the source said, calling it "the first step into turning around Lebanese institutions".

Visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein on Monday urged the ruling class to take advantage of the truce between Israel and Hezbollah and reach "political consensus".

Lebanese analyst Karim Bitar said Aoun seemed "to be supported by the United States and to a lesser extent by France and Saudi Arabia".

According to reports on Lebanese media, Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan was also in Lebanon on Wednesday after a previous trip last week.

Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah, said the Gulf kingdom was in touch with France, the United States and Egypt, "trying to convince hesitating blocs to back Aoun".

The four nations, as well as Qatar, have been calling for a new president to kickstart reforms necessary to lift the country out of an unprecedented financial crisis it fell into in 2019.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday he was optimistic.

"God willing, tomorrow we will have a president," he said.

Lebanon's powerful parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally, 86-year-old Nabih Berri, has invited Le Drian to attend Thursday's vote.

- 'Single candidate' -

Under multi-confessional Lebanon's power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite Christian and traditionally needs backing from at least one of the country's two major Christian parties.

Of these, the Lebanese Forces was to meet with allies late Wednesday and announce their "support for a single candidate", a party source told AFP.

They did not say whether this would be Aoun, who if elected would be Lebanon's fifth army commander made president.

Berri's parliamentary bloc held a similar meeting. Al-Akhbar reported the speaker backs acting security chief Elias Baissari for president.

Local media have reported that Berri does not believe Aoun to be a consensus candidate and is against a constitutional amendment that would allow the election of a person still in a high office.

Under Lebanon's constitution, any presidential candidate must have not held such a position for at least two years.

The other main Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement led by Michel Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil, is firmly against Joseph Aoun.

Other names circulating include Bassil, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, and former finance minister and International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour.

Hezbollah was not only dealt a serious blow during its war with Israel, but has also lost a key ally in neighbouring Syria since Islamist-led forces toppled president Bashar al-Assad last month.

"Hezbollah today is no longer capable of imposing" its pick, analyst Bitar said.

But "it can still oppose someone that they really distrust".