Hariri Meets Aides of Franjieh, Jumblat, Berri as PSP Delegation Visits Speaker
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri held separate talks Tuesday at the Center House with representatives of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and Speaker Nabih Berri.
Hariri's talks with Health Minister Wael Abou Faour, who is close to Jumblat, tackled “the current developments in the country,” Hariri's press office said in a statement.
The ex-PM later met with Culture Minister Rony Araiji and ex-minister Youssef Saade of Franieh's Marada Movement in the presence of his adviser ex-MP Ghattas Khoury.
Talks addressed the latest political developments.
Later on Tuesday, Hariri met at the Center House with Berri's aide and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.
“The meeting lasted ten minutes and Khalil conveyed a message to Hariri,” LBCI television said.
Following the meeting, a PSP delegation comprising Taimur Jumblat, Wael Abou Faour, Akram Shehayyeb and Ghazi Aridi visited Ain el-Tineh for talks with Berri in Khalil's presence.
Hariri had arrived Monday evening in Lebanon from a brief foreign trip.
On Tuesday he was presiding over a meeting for his Mustaqbal bloc that is expected to address the presidential developments.
MP Alain Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement announced Monday that Hariri will announce his endorsement of FPM founder MP Michel Aoun's presidential nomination “this week.”
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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