Bou Saab says Franjieh leading presidential candidate, no US veto on anyone
Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is the leading presidential candidate, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab claimed Thursday.
"Some might not like this," Bou Saab said, in an interview with al-Manar TV, adding that he might vote for Franjieh if the latter needs only one additional vote to be elected as president.
"There is a campaign against me because I said I would vote for Franjieh in case he needed my vote," the deputy speaker went on to say.
Franjieh, 57, is a former lawmaker and minister close to Hezbollah and a personal friend of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
He heads the Christian Marada movement and, like many of Lebanon's prominent political figures, hails from a storied dynasty.
His grandfather and namesake was president when Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war broke out.
In 1978, his father, politician Tony Franjieh, along with his mother and sister, were murdered by rival Christian fighters while he was elsewhere in the country.
Bou Saab revealed that he had learned during his meetings in Washington that the U.S. has no veto on any candidate and is not nominating anyone for presidency.
"Those who are betting on foreign instructions must know that this will not happen," the lawmaker said, adding that he refuses the foreign interference in the election of a president.
Franjieh has not officially announced his candidacy, but he told local press he was interested in the position.
His name had been touted for the presidency many times before but he never secured enough support to win.
Hezbollah and Amal back his candidacy, although Hezbollah's Christian ally the Free Patriotic Movement would not endorse him.
Bou Saab, a member of the FPM, has many times differentiated himself from his colleagues in the bloc. He had voted for former Minister Ziad Baroud during the presidential election sessions instead of casting a white ballot like the other FPM MPs.
Source: Naharnet
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