Head of Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liasion unit Wafiq Safa announced on Sunday that the party will not veto the election of Army Commander Joseph Aoun for president.
Lebanon has been in political deadlock since former president Michel Aoun left office in October 2022, and a dozen attempts at electing a new president have failed in the years since.
The country, weakened by a financial and economic collapse, and the war with Israel, is now set to hold its next session on January 9, 2025.
With the session fast approaching, political blocs have yet to decide on a candidate that all MPs agree on. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who set the date for the presidential election following the announcement on the ceasefire with Israel on November 27, remains insistent on electing a president on said date.
This comes after international pressures, primarily from the United States and France, for Lebanon to elect a president and exit a political deadlock in the near future.
Aoun’s Candidacy: A Uniting Force?
Following the ceasefire, Lebanon is tasked with deploying the Lebanese Army across all areas of southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah set to withdraw behind the Litani river and Isael behind the blue line.
General Joseph Aoun is tasked with overseeing this, potentially meaning that his candidacy could be a means to unite all domestic factions and gain support from influential outside forces, including the United States.
However, for Aoun to be elected president, a quorum of 86 MPs is required to open the first session and any subsequent sessions. Should any political bloc choose to boycott the session and withdraw attendance, then the session would fail without having even begun.
In the past few months, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has openly opposed the candidacy of General Aoun, citing it would require constitutional amendment.
“We are not going to amend the Constitution to get anyone elected,” he said.
However, Safa’s remarks on Hezbollah not vetoing the election of General Aoun as president seems to show that the Shiite duo could potentially elect the army commander on the January 9 session.
“The only veto to us is on Samir Geagea, because he is a strife and destruction scheme for the country,” said Safa.
US Envoy Amos Hochstein is set to meet with Berri to discuss developments in Lebanon and the Israeli violations, after meeting the ceasefire monitoring committee in Naqoura today.