Ex-minister Jihad Azour has refused to be a “confrontation” presidential candidate, a media report said on Wednesday.

“He has informed the relevant parties that he will not accept to be elected except through consensus and that success should be guaranteed,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

"There is no agreement yet with the Lebanese Forces," a Free Patriotic Movement MP said.

MP Jimmy Jabbour explained that there is an ongoing dialogue with the LF and that the current situation requires an agreement on a presidential candidate.

Hezbollah liaison and coordination officer Wafiq Safa has not met with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, contrary to the latest reports in this regard, media reports said.

“No appointment was set and no appointment was canceled and there is even no communication,” MTV reported.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has denied that he is mediating between Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil in the presidential file.

“I’m also not promoting (the candidacy) of Jihad Azour and I have not visited Bassil nor talked to him, but the communication channels between us are open,” Gemayel said in remarks to MTV.

A French investigative judge Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Lebanon's embattled central bank governor after he didn't show up for questioning in France on corruption charges, a Western diplomat said.

Longtime central bank Gov. Riad Salameh was supposed to appear before French prosecutors Tuesday as part of an ongoing European probe. Lebanese officials have not confirmed receipt of the arrest warrant or commented on the development.

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry has received a letter threatening European Union sanctions against MPs who fail to attend presidential election sessions, an official source told MTV on Tuesday.

The presidential negotiations between Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea have entered their “final stages,” a media report said on Tuesday.

Bassil and Geagea are in a “race against time, seeing as the Lebanese parties have been informed that the presidential election session should be held shortly after the Arab Summit,” informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is willing to lead a ministerial delegation to Syria, Caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine said.

Sharafeddine said that Mikati has informed the ministers about his willingness to visit Syria during a consultative ministerial meeting and that the date of the visit will be decided on Monday.

The Lebanese Forces urged Tuesday Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to call for an open-ended election session, instead of obstructing the election of a president.

In a statement, the LF told Berri that, as a speaker, he doesn't have the right to interfere in what the opposition is doing.

The opposition has intensified its meetings to pick a presidential candidate from the nominees who enjoy Bkirki’s approval: Joseph Aoun, Jihaz Azour, Ziad Baroud, Neemat Frem and Salah Honein, informed political sources said.

“Azour and Frem are in the lead over the other candidates,” the sources told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal in remarks published Tuesday.