According to Western diplomatic sources, the Shiite duo of Amal and Hezbollah will not break the deadlock on Lebanon’s presidential elections until an American-Iranian agreement has been reached.
Indeed, the MPs of the Shiite duopoly have reportedly refused to meet with the opposition delegation to discuss the initiative they launched to facilitate the election of a new president.
Opposition circles believe that this reluctance is clear evidence that the Shiite duo does not want to elect a president at the moment, preferring to keep the decision in the hands of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
It would appear to the opposition that the Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, consults Berri on every point, meaning that decisions would be taken in Ain el-Tineh and not in the Grand Serail.
The Shiite duo is thus clinging to the presidential vacuum because it makes them the sole interlocutor-negotiator in the absence of other political forces, especially the Christian blocs and the Sunni leadership. Even the Socialist Party, led by the Joumblatts, has reportedly placed its decision-making in the hands of Berri for political and security considerations regarding stability in the Lebanese mountains, a Druze stronghold.
It is worth recalling that the tandem has already obstructed several initiatives aimed at unblocking the presidential file, namely that of the Quintet (France, United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar) and that of the National Moderation Bloc.
