According to sources, the two main Christian rival parties, the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement, appear to have agreed on supporting Jihad Azour, a former minister of finance and current Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, for the presidential race.
Azour enjoys the support of the Maronite Patriarchate and the Democratic Gathering bloc headed by MP Taymour Joumblatt.
It is worth noting that Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah did not mention his party’s presidential candidate, Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh, even once during his speech that marked the 23rd anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from South Lebanon on May 25.
Instead, Nasrallah called for unconditional dialogue among the various factions to end the seven-month-long presidential deadlock, a stance that could be interpreted as willingness to retrieve his support for Frangieh, a figure that is utterly rejected by the two Christian parties.
