Lebanon is still without a chairman or a cabinet with full powers since the end of the Michel Aoun presidential period on October 31, and it is an unprecedented vacuum even by the standards of a country that has not enjoyed stability that has been mentioned since independence.
The vacancy opens a new page in the crisis that has been ravaged by Lebanon since the collapse of its financial system in 2019, which led to the sliding of a large segment of people in the clutches of poverty, paralysis of the banking system, and the launch of the largest migration wave since the civil war that took place between 1975 and 1990.
The presidential position is exclusively dedicated to Christians, but the incompatibility with a president so far reflects the state of competition within the Christian community in addition to the extremely important political and religious balances in the country.
“I am the leader of the largest parliamentary bloc, and it is completely right to be a candidate and to promote my name, but I see that the existence of Lebanon is much more important than this, and the presence of Lebanon is now at stake. “.
“I made a decision not to present myself in order to avoid vacancy and facilitate the process of ensuring a good candidate who has high chances of success.
(But I) did not do this in order to prolong the void and choose a bad candidate to fill the position.
“I will not accept that I have a bad president, and in this case, of course, I will run. ”
Basil is the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, founded by Aoun, his wife’s father and outgoing president, who was imposed on the United States in 2020 on charges of alleged corruption and providing physical support to Hezbollah. He denies these accusations.
Although the politicians do not show any gesture to reach a compromise in their struggle for power, some political sources and analysts say that reaching a settlement on the presidency may require foreign mediation similar to those that saved Lebanon from such confrontations in the past.
Bassil said that in Paris, in the framework of a wider effort to create a framework that can be compatible locally and internationally in order to facilitate the mission of the next president to move forward with decisive economic reforms without offering the obstacles that repeated their appearance in the past.
France has led international efforts to save Lebanon from the worst crisis that it met since the civil war, but to no avail.
Bassil, who had a wide praise for his vital role behind the scenes in the talks in which the United States mediated to demarcate the maritime borders of Lebanon with Israel through his prayers with Hezbollah, said that he hopes that a breakthrough in the presidential file will be fulfilled by the end of the year, but the delay remains “dangerous”.
“Frankly, if what we are trying to do, I do not see an opportunity (to fill the vacancy) in the near future and the presidential void may continue for a long time.
“That is why the country cannot stay in this situation and coexist with it. Therefore, we need to succeed in finding a solution. “.
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