Change and Reform Says to Vote Blank in Presidential Session
The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc led by MP Michel Aoun announced Tuesday that it will cast blank votes in Wednesday's presidential election.
"We have decided to take part in Wednesday's session and we will cast blank votes," MP Emile Rahme said, reciting a terse statement issued after the bloc's weekly meeting in Rabieh.
Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Tuesday quoted Change and Reform sources as saying that Aoun would not attend the session in person.
It said his lawmakers and their allies in the March 8 alliance are expected to cast white votes to protest the candidacy of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.
The protest votes would be 56 or 57 if the three Tripoli MPs join them, exceeding the votes that Geagea would get from his March 14 alliance by one or two, al-Hayat said.
The Tripoli MPs – former Premier Najib Miqati and former Ministers Mohammed al-Safadi and Ahmed Karami – could resort to another option to vote for the candidate of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, the daily said.
Reports have said that Jumblat, who heads the centrist National Struggle Front bloc, would on Tuesday announce the candidacy of his bloc member MP Henri Helou.
G.K./Y.R.
D.A./S.D.B.
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