Hezbollah-Future to end presidential vacuum: Siniora

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora says the ongoing dialogue between the country’s Future Movement and the Hezbollah resistance movement will help work out a solution to the seven-month-long presidential deadlock in the country.

“We hope that the dialogue with Hezbollah will produce progress and a breakthrough in the presidential vacuum,” he said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Samir Jisr, who participated in the talks, says the first dialogue session between Hezbollah and the Future Movement last week was “frank” and covered all points of contention between the two rival political parties.

Jisr said the dialogue may offer a way out of the ongoing presidential stalemate. “Perhaps dialogue will create a loophole to stop the vacancy in the presidency,” he said.

The Future legislator further noted that dialogue seeks to curb the negative implications the differences between Hezbollah and the Future Movement have had on Lebanon.

Political analysts say the talks between Hezbollah and Future could serve as an example for other Lebanese political factions, including the Lebanese Forces Party led by Samir Geagea and the Free Patriotic Movement, led by Michel Aoun, to mend fences and close ranks.

Pundits also maintain that the ongoing negotiations between the two major and rival Lebanese parties will help assuage tensions between Shia and Sunni religious communities in Lebanon.

The Lebanese parliament has failed for the 16th time in a row to elect a president to replace Michel Suleiman, whose term expired in May.

The parliament was unable to reach a quorum due to the boycott of sessions by some political groups.