Tokyo: Deputy Robert Ganem, an independent politician within the March 14 coalition representing the West Biqa‘-Rashayah district, became the second candidate to announce his candidacy for the Lebanese presidency on Thursday.
In the course of a television interview on the LBCI network, Ganem revealed that he was closer to March 14’s values, though he also emphasised that believed in some of March 8’s norms including resisting Israeli occupation and liberating the land.
Ganem, the son of Army Commander Iskandar Ganem (1971-1975), declared that his electoral platform was based on creating “a force of moderation and justice” in Lebanon away from the March 8 and March 14 alignments.
It was not clear whether the eventual successful candidate would be required to distance himself from both coalitions, although the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Al Rai chimed in from his latest Geneva “ecclesiastical mission” that the next head-of-state should be consensual to avoid yet another political crisis.
Amazingly, he ruled out the election of a president from either the March 8 or 14 alliances, which meant that the leading aspirants, General Michel Aoun and Dr Samir Geagea, were in disfavour. Last week, Geagea announced his candidacy for the vote.
In bewildering comments that were sure to be interpreted with incredulity, the Cardinal reiterated that while the Maronite Church did not “back a specific person,” he nevertheless hoped the ideal “presidential candidate should have certain general characteristics.”
“He should believe in the Lebanese state and have good regional, Arab and international ties,” Al Rai hammered, which implied some did not believe in the state, and had poor ties to the outside world.
Even if foreign contacts were prized by members of the clergy and the intelligentsia, few Lebanese were enamoured with the most recent plans made by the ambassadors of major countries to “kick off” a series of contacts with the main candidates for office, ostensibly to inquire about their programmes.
In reality, the efforts were meant to pressure and shape various slates, and though many raised reservations over certain candidates, some Lebanese believed that leading ambassadors would carry excessive influence and tip the balance of favour of one against another.
In an effort to mitigate such manipulations, Speaker Nabih Berri called on the Arab and Western ambassadors not to interfere in the upcoming presidential election, declaring: “Foreign ambassadors must not interfere in this election and must leave a chance to ‘Lebanese’ it and allow it to take its course.”
Ironically, while the Speaker may find such interferences unacceptable, he holds the key to eventually accelerate the Lebanonisation process by calling parliament to session, which he apparently promised to do on the 22nd or the 23rd of the month according to a local newspaper.
Incidentally, it was worth noting that Berri did not include the Iranian Ambassador on his list of putative obstructionists.
In the event, and according to the pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar newspaper, a high-level meeting was under preparation between Hassan Nasrallah, Nabih Berri, and Michel Aoun, to mull over political stances and, presumably, settle on their candidate even if the party chairman announced that such a decision was already made.
Still, and barring a viable candidate from either the March 8 or March 14 coalitions, several alternative candidates stood a chance to be propelled to the forefront, including Demianos Kattar and Ziad Baroud, although the country was seldom blessed with high calibre professional candidates in its post-independence era.
The latest joke in Lebanon is to rearrange the top three posts by appointing the Maronite Cardinal Al Rai as president of the republic, the Sunni Mufti Mohammad Qabbani as prime minister, and the Shiite Chairman of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah as parliament speaker.
The punch line was either affirmative or inquisitive depending on one’s wishes: “Lebanon would then be at peace!?” Many wondered.
