Mohamed Choucair wrote in “Asharq Al-Awsat“:What is new regarding President Fouad Siniora’s efforts to form a complete list to run for the parliamentary elections in Beirut’s second district is the meeting that took place out of the limelight between Siniora and the advisors of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, former MP Ghattas Khoury and Hani Hammoud..
Asharq Al-Awsat learned from the Beiruti sources that the meeting came at the behest of Hariri, who resides in Abu Dhabi, and that it was devoted to conveying Hariri’s viewpoint to block the rumor that officials in “The Future” are behind the media and political campaigns targeting Siniora for his departure from Hariri’s political “mantle.”.
She revealed that the meeting led to putting points on letters to refute all rumors in the Beirut street that officials in the “future” are committed from above the table to Hariri’s decision to refrain from running in the elections, while working from under the table to market this candidate or that on the other hand, and sometimes by instigating them from They wanted to run regardless of running for election to prevent them from cooperating with Siniora.
She confirmed that Khoury and Hammoud informed Siniora that Hariri was neutral, even if he did not ask his partisans and audience to boycott the elections, and said that Hariri is not with or against what he is doing to form a list in Beirut II, and therefore whoever runs in the name of “the future” must resign, as well as For those belonging to the blue current who want to work in electoral machines.
The same sources believed that Hariri has no cover for those who wish to run in the elections, and he must bear the sole responsibility for his decision, and this is what Siniora is informed of, and considered that the meeting ended in linking the conflict with the latter from the site of the difference in electoral engagement, while Siniora continues his consultations in preparation for the birth of the electoral list that he sponsors Personally.
With regard to the formation of lists at a time when the race to secure electoral outcomes is intensified in light of expectations that the voter turnout is likely to decline, especially in the Sunni street, while Siniora seeks to mobilize it to raise the level of participation in the elections, Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Hezbollah is in agreement. With the “Amal” movement, there is no question of running in the elections with a complete list of 11 candidates, divided between 6 Sunni candidates, two Shiites, and a Druze, Orthodox and evangelical candidate.
And he made sure that the list supported by the “Shiite duo” could include 8 candidates, two from the Shiites, four from the Sunnis, one from the Druze and one from the Evangelist, in case he decides to dismiss an Orthodox candidacy to avoid entering into a political problem with the “Syrian Social Nationalist Party.” In light of the nomination of Deputy Asaad Hardan, the former head of the Labor Union, Ghassan Ghosn, in exchange for the nomination of the party leadership in Raouche for another candidate.
It was reported that the “Shiite duo” could reduce the number of its Sunni candidates from four to three, taking into account the lack of cooperation with a candidate who belongs to the “Ahbash” or is affiliated with him, out of his keenness not to expose his alliance relationship with the Association of Projects to a setback, while preparing for a setback. To contest the elections on a single list, but in harmony with it from under the table to provide protection for the electoral outcomes of both parties.
It is assumed that the list of the “Shiite duo” includes Representatives Amin Shari (Hezbollah), Muhammad Khawaja (Amal), Edgar Traboulsi (Free Patriotic Movement), in addition to Nassib al-Gohari (the Democratic Party headed by Representative Talal Arslan). Adham, Sherine Adnan Araqji, and Maya Saad Eddin Shatila, although he was inclined to cooperate with prominent Sunni figures from his point of view, but she preferred not to run in order to avoid being included in the US sanctions imposed on Hezbollah, on the pretext that she is running in the elections on its list..
The insistence of the “Shiite duo”, specifically from Hezbollah, to include Sunni candidates in the context of its response to the campaigns targeting it, and finally came to it from Representative Makhzoumi, on the pretext that he is extending his hand to the Sunni sect, and that he is strengthening his weapon in the elections, although the party is on Agreeing with “Amal” not to deal with Sunni faces that could pose a provocation or challenge to the Sunni street, and this explains his unwillingness to include faces known for their close relationship with the party and belonging to the “Resistance Brigades” supported by it..
Therefore, the “Shiite duo” is betting on his ability to raise his electoral tally to secure the victory of at least one of the Sunni candidates on his list to pass a message that he has a presence in the Sunni street as a direct response to the campaigns targeting him, while Makhzoumi is about to form a complete list in cooperation with the candidates Abdul Latif Saad El-Din Itani, Karim Fouad Shabaklo, Zina Majdalani, Zeina Munther, Lina Hamdan, Olfat El-Saba’, and retired Dean of Public Security Dalal Rahbani, who ran for the evangelical seat on his list in the previous elections.
Until the formation of the lists in Beirut II is completed, whether they are complete or incomplete, Siniora is facing a challenge that lies in urging the Sunni street to turn out massively for the ballot boxes, contrary to the initial estimates that there is a problem in removing it from the anxiety that controls it after Hariri’s reluctance to contest The election.