Consensus Fails in Kesrouan
Nihmat Efram will announce that he will not run for a seat in Kesrouan in the upcoming parliamentary elections, a move that is seen as a failure to bridge the gap between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun.
"I made efforts for consensus which haven”t been successful yet. But I hope that this happens at a later time," Efram told An Nahar newspaper.
As Safir daily said on Tuesday that Efram”s decision means failure of the "M-M" equation.
Also in Kesrouan, Maroun Helou is expected to announce his candidacy on Tuesday in an alliance with Mansour al-Bon.
Meanwhile, former MP Fares Boueiz, who is running for the Maronite seat in Kesrouan, told As Safir daily that negotiations are underway with the Free Patriotic Movement, adding "they have reached an advanced stage."
But Boueiz is still in contact with parties that might run against the FPM. A possible alliance "with independents would be only an electoral alliance … As for politics, each one of us has his own choices and views," the former legislator said.
Farid Haykal al-Khazen, for his part, said he is not against having party activists in the list of independents. But the list will not be political, he added.
Al-Bon also spoke to As-Safir, saying the alliance atmosphere will be made clear after Tuesday, which is the last day to announce candidacies.
On the party level, it is now clear that the Lebanese Forces will not have a candidate in Kesrouan and will back in one way or another Sajaan Azzi, the Phalange party”s candidate.
"We will put all our efforts to back the list that is running against Gen. Aoun”s ticket," LF sources told As Safir.