By Hani M. Bathish , Daily Star staff, BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun and former President Amin Gemayel held talks on Sunday at the residence of a common friend in Rabweh. The meeting between Aoun, a key opposition player, and Gemayel, a stalwart of the ruling March 14 coalition, was still under way when The Daily Star went to press, but the talks were believed to be aimed at breaking the impasse over the election of Lebanon’s next president.
The relationship between the two men suffered a downturn in the aftermath of the Metn by-election in August, when Gemayel lost to FPM candidate Camille Khoury for the seat made vacant by the assassination of the former president’s son, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel. In another sign of a possible rapprochement, the National News Agency reported late Sunday that Lebanese Forces (LF) MP Georges Adwan had visited Aoun at the latter’s residence in Rabieh earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic weight of three European foreign ministers, as well as a positive meeting between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri, failed to settle the presidential issue. Gemayel, speaking to Voice of Lebanon radio on Sunday, said Tuesday’s session would be postponed for 10-15 days. Both camps have said more time is needed to build consensus on a candidate, and Berri and Hariri at their Friday meeting progressed to the stage of discussing names.