Under an interim government, Lebanon has been overcoming the obstacles of the fourth constitutional void since the night of October 31st, after the end of the six-year administration of General Michel Aoun.

Voting sessions began in Parliament to assign the new head of state a month before Aoun’s departure from the Baabda Presidential Palace, and after 10 failures, the lack of consensus and lack of understanding has forced a pause until 2023.

When everything was moving towards an “apparent political break” around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the dialogue between the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, and the head of the Free Patriotic Current, Gebran Bassil, broke the deadlock on the Lebanese scene to convey a message that the landscape may change radically.

According to the local channel Al-Manar, both figures met the specifications of a President of the Republic: honest, with economic knowledge, promoting reforms, and most importantly, not being a provocateur for any of the political parties.

Although there was no agreement on the name to occupy the presidency, the meeting put an end to the indifference between progressives and the Free Patriotic, and both Jumblatt and Bassil also discussed the recovery plan, the International Monetary Fund file, its requests and financial reforms, capital control and other matters.

For local and regional analysts, the immobility in Lebanon responds to the postulation of a challenging and confrontational candidate, subject to the dictates from outside the country and in favor of individual interests.

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