BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is standing firm on his support for MP Sleiman Frangieh’s presidential bid, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Friday, as signs emerged that Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea might endorse MP Michel Aoun’s candidacy as a means of breaking the 19-month-long deadlock. Machnouk denied reports that Hariri’s initiative, backing Frangieh’s candidacy for the presidency, was doomed after triggering staunch opposition from the country’s three main Christian parties: the Free Patriotic Movement, the LF and the Kataeb Party.

He said that Hariri was pursuing his efforts with rival factions to end the presidential vacuum that has thrown the legislative and executive branches of power into paralysis.

“Contacts over the presidential issue are ongoing in line with a desire and a political decision by [former] Prime Minister Hariri and what he represents in filling the [presidential] vacuum,” Machnouk told reporters after meeting with Beirut Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi.

“Certainly, he [Hariri] continues [to support] MP Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy. But the goal of this candidacy is to reach understanding, rather than a confrontation with the others,” he said.

“Therefore, the talk about the death [of Hariri’s initiative] is premature and inaccurate, even though regional developments have delayed holding the presidential election. Let’s wait and see,” Machnouk said, in a clear allusion to the rising Saudi-Iranian tensions following Riyadh’s execution of a Shiite preacher, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, last week.

Despite the Saudi-Iranian row, which heightened sectarian tensions in the region and sparked a new verbal feud between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, Machnouk said: “I am not pessimistic about this issue [Saudi-Iranian tensions]. I think that the ongoing storm will calm down quickly and the debate will be back to normal.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has also said that the presidential election has been frozen as a result of a new strain in ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who wield great influence in Lebanon. Machnouk said he had no fears about the security situation in Lebanon despite the regional tensions.

“I am not worried about the security situation. But when a regional struggle erupts, a regional cover [that has protected Lebanon] begins to recede,” Machnouk said.

“There are unconfirmed indications pointing to a forthcoming regional pacification. Until this happens, the situation in Lebanon will remain subject to a receding regional cover.”

A senior LF official said that a long-awaited meeting between Aoun and Geagea could be held at any time at the latter’s residence in Maarab.

However, Melhem Riachi, chief of the LF media and liaison office, said that a meeting between the LF chief and the FPM founder, seen crucial for a presidential breakthrough, is not imminent as reported by some local newspapers. “A meeting between Dr. Geagea and Gen. Aoun is possible at any moment if the need arises,” Riachi told The Daily Star. “But this meeting is not imminent as reported by some media outlets.”

Geagea paid a rare visit to Aoun at the latter’s residence in Rabieh in June last year when the two leaders announced the “Declaration of Intent” capping a series of meetings between officials of both sides.

Riachi said that since the “Declaration of Intent” was reached by the LF and the FPM, officials from both sides have been meeting to coordinate their positions on key issues such as the presidential election, a new electoral law and a citizenship law that would grant expatriates of Lebanese origin Lebanese nationality.

“‘The Declaration of Intent’ has melted the ice between the two parties,” Riachi said, referring to decades of deep-rooted political feud that had erupted into street fighting between supporters of the LF and the FPM, which are vying for influence in Christian areas.

“We have moved from the stage of negotiations to one of dialogue focusing on important issues such as the presidential election, a new electoral law and a citizenship law,” he added.

The “Declaration of Intent” outlined the two parties’ common vision on what best serves Lebanon’s Christians. Among other matters, it stated a commitment to enacting a new electoral law that offers a more accurate representation of Christians, launching the administrative decentralization process and resorting to dialogue rather than violence to resolve any conflict.

Asked if the anticipated meeting between Geagea and Aoun would culminate in the LF chief endorsing the FPM founder’s presidential bid, Riachi said: “This is one of the options on the table. It is possible for Dr. Geagea to nominate Gen. Aoun for the presidency.”

Despite the strain in the Future Movement’s ties with the LF caused by Hariri’s support for Frangieh’s presidential bid, Riachi emphasized his party’s firm backing for Hariri as Lebanon’s next prime minister.

“Irrespective of the outcome of the presidential election, the LF has strategic keenness that Hariri be named the next prime minister,” he said.

Geagea, the March 14-backed presidential candidate, strongly opposes Frangieh’s candidacy.

The Central News Agency said that Geagea’s formal endorsement of Aoun’s presidential candidacy could constitute the “most effective response to the Paris settlement” hammered out by France which Hariri was assigned to promote.

It was referring to Frangieh’s meeting with Hariri in Paris in November which led to the Marada Movement leader emerging as a strong candidate for the presidency as part of Hariri’s initiative to end the vacuum.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tammam Salam Friday called the Cabinet to meet at 10 a.m. Thursday to discuss some 140 items on the agenda, dealing mainly with socioeconomic issues.

The Cabinet, which has been crippled by sharp differences among its ministers, last met in late December to approve a controversial waste exportation plan aimed at ending the country’s chronic trash crisis, which erupted in mid-July after a notorious landfill southeast of Beirut was closed.

A dispute over the Cabinet’s decision-making mechanism and the FPM’s demand for the appointment of senior military and security officers have prevented the Cabinet from meeting since Sept. 9.

The FPM has accused Salam of exercising the president’s prerogatives amid the presidential vacuum, a charge denied by the prime minister.