Away from speculative analyses, and following the collapse of the French attempt to assign the leader of the Marada Movement, Sleiman Franjieh, as president of the republic, the presidential file has returned to square one.
Sources close to the presidential scene acknowledged to Sawt Beirut International that the French effort died before it was launched for a variety of reasons.
First – The French administration was unique in its initiative without consulting Washington and the countries of the five-party meeting, and this left a bad impression on those countries that spent together to solve the crisis in Lebanon, as those countries were surprised by the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, thus they overthrew the French initiative.
Secondly, and according to the established principles, Paris was supposed to coordinate with Bkerke, and take into consideration its views regarding the presidential issue. However, this did not happen, an important resounding failure of the French initiative.
Third, the American viewpoint had a significant part in the initiative’s failure. The statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called for hastening the election of a president and establishing a precise framework for the chosen president, made Frangieh a tough choice to win the presidency.
Fourth, and most importantly, and here the sources indicate that the main point that made Paris change its positions is the presidential specifications that were set by the Gulf states, and the statement of the meeting of the five-party meeting mentioned them, and these specifications do not apply to the head of the Marada movement.
Being a Hezbollah ally, resistance axis that drove Lebanon into the collapse of today, Frangieh does not enjoy the sovereign specifications.