Senior Lebanese politician Gebran Bassil stated that he would run for the presidency if he could not find a proper candidate to push through crucial reforms.
"I am the head of the biggest parliamentarian bloc and it is my total right to be the candidate and promote myself but I see that the existence of Lebanon is much more important than this and it's now the existence of Lebanon that is at stake," Bassil told Reuters in an interview.
He added: "I took the decision not to present myself in order to avoid the vacancy and facilitate the process of ensuring a good profile with a high possibility of success. I did not do this to have the vacancy and a bad person to fill the void.”
"I will not accept to have a bad president and in that case of course I would run,” the politician stressed.
Bassil is the head of the free patriotic movement (FPM), founded by former president Michel Aoun, his father-in-law. He was sanctioned by the US in 2020 for alleged corruption and material supporting Hezbollah but he denies the accusations.
Last October, Aoun left Lebanon's presidential palace a day before his mandate expires without a designated successor.
Lebanese lawmakers tried but failed four times in a month to agree on electing a successor after Aoun's six-year term ends. The 89-year-old Christian president left the country amid a financial meltdown following the deadly Beirut port blast.
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