Jumblat Fears Lebanese No Longer Concerned with Presidential Crisis, Urges Accord on 3rd Candidate

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat expressed distress over the ongoing presidential stalemate as the Lebanese no longer sense the vacuum at the state's higher post due to the rift between the rival Christians.

He pointed out in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday that the Lebanese are more concerned with the daily crises.

Jumblat stressed that the controversial presidential deadlock should be resolved in Lebanon, urging the rival Christian parties the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces to choose a third candidate other than Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea.

The Druze leader, however, said that Aley lawmaker Henri Helou remains the Democratic Gathering bloc's candidate for office.

Jumblat expressed belief that Helou represents the line of centrists.

Lebanon has been without a president since May when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of his successor.

Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have thwarted the elections.

Aoun is still the candidate of the March 8 camp in the face of Geagea, the nominee of the March 14 forces. The rivalry between the two men has led to a lack of quorum in 16 electoral sessions in parliament, amid a boycott by the MPs of Aoun and Hizbullah.

Asked about the deterioration of the security situation along Lebanon's southern border after Hizbullah's assault on an Israeli convoy in the occupied Shebaa Farms, Jumblat considered Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's response to be adequate.

“We should expect a lot from the Israelis.”

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded last week in a Hizbullah attack on a military convoy in the Shebaa Farms.

The attack prompted Israel to shell areas in southern Lebanon in a significant escalation along the volatile border.

Hizbullah said in its claim of responsibility that it targeted several vehicles transporting officers and soldiers with missiles to avenge the Israeli raid on Syria's Quneitra that killed six of its fighters and a top Iranian general.

But Jumblat said he favors that Hizbullah remains a resistance and withdraws from Syria, adding: “My opinion at this point won't change anything as we are too late... the dissociation policy has ended.”

The Baabda Declaration was unanimously adopted during a national dialogue session in June 2012. It calls for Lebanon to disassociate itself from regional crises, most notably the one in Syria.

Concerning the ongoing dialogue between al-Mustaqbal Movement and Hizbullah, Jumblat hailed the talks, expressing hope that the two parties would reach “practical results that would defuse the sectarian tension.”

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal representatives held their fifth round of talks under Berri's sponsorship in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday night.

They issued a terse statement underlining “their rejection of (celebratory) gunfire on all occasions, in all Lebanese regions and under any excuse.”

They also followed up preparations relating to the completion of the security plan in the eastern Bekaa Valley.