France's Jean-Yves Le Drian expected to arrive in Lebanon amid presidential void

Former French foreign minister was recently appointed by President Emmanuel Macron as special envoy to Lebanon

Jean-Yves Le Drian, the former French foreign minister and recently appointed special envoy to Lebanon, is expected to arrive in Beirut this week amid an unprecedented governance vacuum there.

With Lebanon embroiled in a devastating economic crisis, its bitterly divided parliament has failed to elect a new head of state in 12 sessions – and more than seven months after former army chief Michel Aoun left the presidential palace in Baabda.

Mr Le Drian is set to meet a host of senior officials and political leaders. His visit comes after Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Mr Macron urged for a “rapid end to the institutional political vacuum in Lebanon” after meeting in Paris last Friday.

“We cherish our great friendship and historic relationship with France, and we welcome the visit as it shows the international community support to a founding state member like Lebanon, and at such a critical time,” an official from the Lebanese Forces, parliament's largest party, told The National. France is the former colonial power of Lebanon and the two countries maintain strong ties.

After a five-month hiatus amid the political impasse, MPs returned last Wednesday to elect a new president in the 128-seat legislature – only to find themselves deadlocked again.

Lebanon's largest Christian parties, including the LF, formed a rare “convergence” over International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour, giving him 59 votes.

Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, its Shiite ally Amal, and a handful of other MPs backed Suleiman Frangieh with 51 votes.

Both men fell short of the two-thirds majority required in the first round of voting. There was no second round after Amal, Hezbollah and others who backed Mr Frangieh left the room and the two-thirds quorum was lost. The second round would have required an absolute majority of 65 votes.

Backers of Mr Azour insist that if the quorum had not been lost, they would have secured the additional votes needed to get the IMF official elected.

“The Lebanese were able to seek convergence among various parties and near a solution to the presidential vacuum, yet the solution was blocked from within,” the LF source said.

The LF is deeply opposed to Hezbollah and the influence they say it holds over the country.

While Lebanon and France have historic ties, the latter is just one of a number of powerful countries with influence over the former – including Saudi Arabia, Iran, the US and Qatar, which has upped its diplomatic efforts in Lebanon recently.

The French presidency said that the lack of a president “remains the major obstacle to resolving the country's severe socioeconomic crisis”. Further exacerbating the situation is that Prime Minister Najib Mikati's cabinet is in caretaker status – after he and Mr Aoun were unable to agree on its make-up before the latter’s term ended – and thus severely stripped of its powers.

Earlier this year, France reportedly lent its support to a deal that would have seen Mr Frangieh become president in exchange for a Prime Minister supported by his opponents.

Mr Frangieh's opponents are staunchly averse to any deal that would see him come to power and say the solution should come from inside Lebanon.

A source close to the Amal Movement of speaker Nabih Berri intimated that the pro-Frangieh bloc very much remains behind his candidacy. Mr Berri has not set a date for the next session amid the impasse, and has called for dialogue.

Saudi Arabia was reported to have been opposed to Mr Frangieh, although Riyadh's ambassador to Beirut and sources close to the Kingdom insist it does not hold a veto for any future head of state.