Jihad Azour put forward as potential Lebanon presidential candidate

The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) in Lebanon, Gebran Bassil, has said his party and other Christian and opposition parties have agreed on a candidate for the presidency, without naming anyone. 

It is likely that the parties will settle on Jihad Azour as their candidate.

It is a rare occasion where the FPM, long allied with the powerful Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, has reached an agreement with Hezbollah's rivals such as the Lebanese Forces, as well as non-sectarian parties critical of the Lebanese political establishment.

This comes ahead of a 15 June deadline for parliament to pick the next president set by parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

When asked by Kuwait's Al-Qabas newspaper whether Azour was the name agreed upon, Bassil said he was one of a number of candidates.

Lebanon has been without a president since November amid a political deadlock. The country's parliamentarian, confessional-based power sharing system requires lawmakers to vote for a new president, a seat reserved for Maronite Christians.

Shia parties Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are backing leader of the Marada Movement Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency, which all major Christian parties in Lebanon have said they will not vote for.

The political paralysis has strained ties between long-time allies Hezbollah and the FPM.

Cardinal Beshara Boutros al-Rai, the head of the Lebanese Maronite Church, visited Paris on Monday and met with President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the presidential issue.

Azour, 57, is a former finance minister and currently heads the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund. He is widely considered to be a technocrat who could help usher in the economic stability Lebanon needs as the country faces the worst financial crisis in its history.