Jumblat to Quit Political Activity as Taymour Begins Preparations for Parliamentary Life

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said that he will end his political activity at the end of the current parliamentary term as he “is seriously considering not to run for the elections.”

“I will be folding my political page and my voting for a new head of state would be my last,” Jumblat said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

He pointed out that his son Taymour is preparing himself to run for the parliamentary elections and running the affairs of al-Mukhtara.

“Everything will be announced in its time,” Jumblat noted.

The Druze leader said that he will remain at the helm of the PSP as his term ends in two years.

“After 37 years in politics I have had a rich experience, which included some black marks, but it's up to history to write it... I will not write my biography... Let others do,” Jumblat said.

He stressed that he “will not run for a parliamentary seat but will continue as a political observer.”

In 2011, Taymour was appointed as a “guiding member” of the party, in a step that would allow him to later run for its leadership council and consequently head the party.

“I am not ashamed... My conscience is at ease,” the PSP leader said.

Concerning the ongoing dispute over the presidency elections among the political arch-foes, Jumblat didn't expect lawmakers to succeed in electing a new head of state during Thursday's parliamentary session.

He believed that the parliamentary session will be similar to its precedents.

The first presidential elections session was held on April 23, but neither Geagea nor Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou garnered the necessary 86 votes to emerge victorious.

Two other sessions were supposed to be held, but they failed over lack of quorum after a March 8 camp boycott on the ongoing disagreement over a candidate.

Jumblat told the newspaper that he “accepts” vacuum at the helm of the country's top Christian post.

“I can provide either March 8 or 14 coalitions with the majority of votes for their candidates but I can't end the lack of quorum,” the veteran official said.

However, he said that he doesn't want to “be biased to any of the two coalitions,” continuing that he is holding onto his candidate to the presidential elections Henri Helou, who meets all the characteristics of a head of state.

“There is no vacuum but a vacant presidential post until a settlement is reached... We have a cabinet capable of running the country,” Jumblat added.

Jumblat has backed Helou's candidacy, describing him as a “voice of moderation.”

The Aley MP garnered 16 votes during the first round, while 48 lawmakers voted for Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, one for Kataeb party chief ex-President Amin Gemayel and 52 MPs cast blank ballots.

Asked about the repercussions of the Syrian war on Lebanon, Jumblat expected the influence of Damascus and Tehran to grow locally “more than ever.”

“Some Lebanese sides rushed into concluding that the Syrian regime will swiftly fall while others got involved with the regime,” he told Asharq al-Awsat.

“Engagement in the Syrian crisis was a historical and a moral mistake but my aim is to re-target the arms of the resistance against Israel,” Jumblat said.

H.K.

G.K.