Azour's supporters accuse Hezbollah of blocking democratic vote

On Wednesday, supporters of former finance minister Jihad Azour accused Hezbollah and its allies of blocking the democratic process.

Hezbollah and Amal MPs had withdrawn following the first round of electoral voting on Wednesday, breaking the quorum, after Azour failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to win in the first round.

Azour had the backing of the country's largest Christian political parties, the Free Patriotic Movement, which has been allied with Hezbollah since 2006, and the Lebanese Forces party. Azour was also backed by the majority of Druze legislators and some Sunni Muslims.

The new president's most pressing task will be to get this nation of 6 million people, including more than 1 million Syrian refugees, out of an unprecedented economic crisis that began in October 2019. The meltdown is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country's political class that has ruled Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war ended.

Clinching a bailout deal with the IMF — Azour's current employer — is seen as key to Lebanon's recovery. Azour took a leave of absence from his post as regional director for the organization upon announcing his candidacy.

"This group does not believe in democracy," said Fadi Karam, lawmaker from Lebanese Forces. Independent lawmaker Waddah Sadek said that "nobody can nominate a candidate and say it's either them or nobody else."

Hezbollah has often criticized opposing candidates as divisive and "confrontational," though Azour has said that he would work to bring together rival political groups and end the economic crisis.

"Who better than Jihad Azour to seal the deal with the IMF that can help guarantee us international investment," Sadek said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Haj Hassan claimed Azour and those around him had no political program and called for a "real national dialogue away from the auctioneering and intimidation."

Earlier this week, Franjieh said he was not imposing himself but sought "a national consensus or majority."

Not all lawmakers opposed to Hezbollah support Azour's candidacy and some see him as representing sectarian parties. Ibrahim Mneimneh said the one thing that many legislators who like him ran on anti-establishment platforms agree on was their opposition to Franjieh.

Michel Douaihy, another independent lawmaker, said Azour had not been the first choice of most independents, but that his candidacy "is the art of compromise at its best."

No date has been set for a thirteenth attempt to elect a president.