On Sunday, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, and Head of the Baalbek-Hermel Parliamentary Bloc MP Hussein Hajj Hassan, both confirmed that bloc members will vote for their ally, former minister Sleiman Frangieh, in next Wednesday’s electoral session. They will do so for the first time since the end of former president Michel Aoun’s presidency last October. According to Hussein Hajj Hassan, Sleiman Frangieh has “many attributes, most importantly his knowledge of his position and political plan, and confidence that he has the capabilities to communicate with everyone and preserve all elements of Lebanon’s strength.”
“Crossing paths over a person for political purposes leads to more presidential impasse,” he warned during a speech at a forum organized by the Imam Khomeini Cultural Center in Hermel.
He referred herein to the opposition forces and the FPM who agreed upon the nomination of former minister Jihad Azour for the presidency. Hajj Hassan tried to diminish this choice by “wondering who actually engineered this intersection and over what political project, particularly since the parties involved do not trust each other and declare that publicly in the media.”
