Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced, in a conversation with journalists, that the presidential election dossier would be “revived” after Eid al-Fitr, which will begin on Wednesday. This affirmation comes on the sidelines of his meeting with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides on Monday.
With the return of the Saudi, Egyptian and Qatari ambassadors to Beirut after Eid al-Fitr, the diplomatic representatives of the Quintet in Lebanon (including US and French ambassadors) will resume their tour of political leaders and personalities to try to reach common grounds on the presidential election.
Simultaneously, the MPs from the National Moderation bloc will also be resuming their political tour, with the same aim.
Sources close to the Quintet share a certain optimism about a possible breakthrough, particularly echoed by the US ambassador, Lisa Johnson. In the presence of a Lebanese politician, Johnson said she was convinced that Lebanon would soon elect a president, according to the same sources.
However, a former minister believes that a president should be elected before next July. Otherwise, the presidential vacuum risks being prolonged even further, since the United States will be concentrating, from July onwards, solely on its presidential battle, in anticipation of the November elections.
If a Lebanese head of state is not elected by July, the institutional void will extend until the spring of 2025, in other words, until the inauguration of the new American Administration, according to this former minister. The latter estimated that diplomatic and parliamentary efforts will be intensified to ensure that Lebanon will duly elect a head of state.
