Hezbollah affirms support for Michel Aoun for presidency

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has announced his group’s support for General Michel Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, as president of Lebanon. Nasrallah, who was speaking to his supporters on the occasion of Ashura, called for talks with Aoun in order to solve the presidential crisis, which has dominated the Lebanese political scene since Lebanon’s former President Michel Suleiman’s term expired in May.

Aoun, the most prominent Christian ally to Hezbollah, has still not formally declared himself as a candidate for the presidency; however, he did say that he would be ready to take on the position as long as all sides agree to his nomination. In Lebanon’s sectarian system, a Christian always holds the office of the president.

The Lebanese parliament has failed on 14 occasions to choose a new president for the country. Earlier, the 14 March movement, Hezbollah’s main opposition led by former Prime Minister and head of the Future Movement Saad Hariri, had nominated the leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, for the presidency; but he has failed to secure a majority vote in parliament. Tensions between the Future Movement and Hezbollah have been high in recent years. During his Ashura speech, however, Nasrallah spoke in unusually diplomatic terms.

The Daily Star newspaper quoted him as saying that: “If we want to preserve and neutralise the country then we need dialogue. During the last few days, allied factions have told us that the time has come for a dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah. We are ready for this dialogue.” The Future Movement, representing Sunnis, is the largest party in Lebanon’s parliament, followed by the Free Patriotic Movement, which represents Christians.