The head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri, was unable to control the “lust” of the prosecution among all the Future Movement’s deputies. The positions he announced, followed by circulars and statements confirming his decision not to participate in the elections and to freeze his political work, did not prevent the candidacy of a good number of his bloc’s deputies once more, from Sami Fatfat to Othman Alam Al-Din, Hadi Hobeish and Karim Kabbara (son of Representative Muhammad Kabbara), who applied Yesterday they nominated their candidacies, and they were preceded by his deputy, Mustafa Alloush, who resigned from the movement two weeks ago, and President Fouad Siniora, who sees the elections as an opportunity to devote himself to a Sunni authority in the absence of Hariri. Despite the difficulties that Siniora faced in engineering alliances and nominations following many decided to boycott him, as well as being subjected to a campaign as being “outside of political obedience to Hariri,” Al-Akhbar sources confirm that the former prime minister is proceeding with this option, specifically in the “Beirut II” constituency, to fill a vacancy. Hariri faces the lists of the duo of the Amal Movement, Hezbollah, Al-Ahbash and MP Fouad Makhzoumi. According to the information, Siniora is putting the final touches on a list in this department that “has the blessing of Presidents Najib Mikati and Tammam Salam,” and is supposed to include: Judge Khaled Qabbani, Hassan Mneimneh, Lina Al-Tanir, Majed Demashkieh, Imad Al-Hout (The Islamic Group), Mona Fayyad, Faisal Al-Sayegh (Socialist Party), Michel Falah and George Haddad, while information circulated regarding the possibility of joining Al-Ansar Club president Nabil Badr. Siniora’s attempts to cooperate with the Beirut families collided with her refusal to support any Sunni candidate in Beirut, following a meeting of the families held a few days ago in which it was decided to abide by Hariri’s decision. This makes Siniora’s task more difficult, especially since he lacks any electoral ground in the capital.
In the north, Siniora’s contacts with President Najib Mikati intensified to form a list that includes former MP Mustafa Alloush and possibly former MP Ahmed Fatfat, and Mikati will have a stake in it through the nomination of Suleiman Obeid (son of the late MP Jean Obeid) for the Maronite seat and MP Ali Darwish, noting that Mikati joined yesterday the The “non-candidates” club announced in a press conference its reluctance to run, stressing its “support for the efforts of those chosen by the people.”
Derian told Siniora that he will not invite Sunni voters to vote for his list
Faced with this reality, eyes will remain focused on the Future Movement’s handling of Siniora’s movement, in light of a campaign implicitly being waged in all regions to urge the Sunni community to boycott the elections to block Siniora’s attempts to monopolize the Hariri legacy.
In addition, Al-Akhbar learned that the Grand Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, received a message from Prime Minister Hariri that included severe blame and blame for his “bias” towards Siniora in his movement seeking to inherit the Hariri family and the Future Movement. Sources close to the house confirmed that “Darian tried to contact Hariri, to no avail.” The criticism of Hariri and his supporters prompted Derian to “turn around” and inform Siniora that he will not invite Sunni voters to vote for the list he intends to form in Beirut. The Hariri-Siniora conflict was reflected on the sheikhs of the house in Beirut and the regions who were forcibly subjected to the classification “with Saad” or “with Siniora,” with many acknowledging that Siniora had the upper hand in Aisha Bakkar even when Hariri was at his peak, until he was described as “the future commissioner” in Al-Dar, which allowed him to influence key benefits, most notably the choice of Derian himself, Siniora’s candidate, to succeed Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Qabbani, who was embarrassed until he was expelled from Dar Al-Fatwa following his dispute with Siniora.
