Beirut: In a rare interview, the European Union (EU) Ambassador in Lebanon, Angelina Eichhorst, warned that Lebanese officials seemed determined to “allow vacuum to reach all levels” because they were so deeply divided. She further affirmed that European diplomats assigned to the country “agreed that parliamentary polls should not be held to avoid a further deterioration of the security situation.”

In an interview to Al Nahar on Thursday, Angelina Eichhorst did not hint at the added dilemma of a freshly elected parliament without first settling on a head of state. Would the Lebanese consent to a freshly elected legislative body to select a new Speaker, who must be a Shiite, while the principal Christian post remained vacant?

These candid revelations stood in direct contrast to what leading March 8 politicians, including the Free Patriotic Movement’s (FPM) Michel Aoun, disclosed a few days ago. Speaking on the OTV television station, Aoun declared that a political “deal” was reached among various parties to extend the parliament’s mandate, which was categorically denied less than 24 hours later by Former Prime Minister Sa‘ad Hariri.

“A lot will be said about an alleged deal to extend the parliament’s term, but there is no deal,” Hariri announced on his official Twitter account. He further affirmed that the Future Movement would not take part in any parliamentary polls before the election of a new president.

On the surface, observers interpreted Hariri’s assertion as an explicit response to Aoun, although it probably was another subtle message to the Progressive Socialist Party strongman Walid Junblatt, whose maverick decisions prevented the election of the March 14 nominee. Comically, 514 candidates submitted their applications by late Tuesday, ostensibly in preparation for the promised polls now scheduled for November 16, 2014. Naturally, and with a few exceptions, most of the 128 current office holders submitted the required paperwork to run for office and, amazingly, 10 deputies were de facto winners because no challengers bothered to run against these incumbents. These included 2 Catholics, Michel Mousa (Saida) and Naamat Tohme (Shuf), as well as eight Shiites — Nabeeh Berri and Ali Osseirane (Saida), Ali Ahmad Bazzi, Ayub Humayd, Hassan Fadlallah (Bint Jbail) and Mohammad Ra’ad, Abdul Latif Al Zayn and Yassin Jabir (Nabatiyeh) — primarily affiliated with Amal and Hezbollah.

Of course, no one bothered to discuss policy programmes less than three months before putative elections, and few took into account what preoccupied most citizens.

Ironically, Future bloc nominations, including Hariri’s own, were duly submitted too, even as the government was immersed in yet another study to determine when and how a required committee to oversee elections could be formed. Hariri stood his ground, nevertheless, and twitted on Wednesday: “Let them act to end the presidential vacuum and we will be ready to take part in any other juncture,” which did not augur well. It was clear that the existing divisions were solidly glued on the political spectrum, with each bloc holding to its cherished positions.

In the event, and even if tense security conditions allowed parliamentary elections to be held in an orderly fashion, Future Movement officials believed that such polls amid a presidential vacuum would create a grave outcome, namely the absence of a constitutional authority (president) whose duties included the appointment of a prime minister, followed by carefully orchestrated parliamentary consultations to form a new government.