Former Lebanese Senior Official Announces Presidential Candidacy
(AWP) - Former Secretary General of the Lebanese Higher Council for Privatisation, Ziad Hayek, announced his presidential bid in a press conference held at the journalists’ syndicate in Beirut on Monday.
The Lebanese presidency post has been vacant since the end of the former president Michel Aoun’s tenure in October 2022, as the numerous parliamentary sessions that took place to elect his successor were all marked by failure.
Hayek said that he met with leaders of all Lebanese political parties to demonstrate and discuss his presidential programme.
He similarly called on parliamentarians to set their political differences aside in order to elect a new President at a time when Lebanon is struggling with a deteriorating security and economic situation.
“I performed my duty by touring [to meet] all national leaders and political parties, without any exception, and presented to them my vision for getting Lebanon out of the dark tunnel we are in. They all know me, and I have long experience as a first-class employee in the executive authority, and I spent 13 years in the government palace, directly reporting to four heads of government,” Hayek said during the presser.
“I was a member of several ministerial committees over many years in which I dealt with all political parties on many issues, so I am not far from politics. I have lived closely and know its ramifications. I have close ties with all political parties, and they know my integrity and reputation,” he added.
The former governmental official stressed that his candidacy comes as no surprise, adding that the current challenges the country is facing dictate the necessity of electing a new president.
“My candidacy is nothing new. I was nominated two years ago, and of course I am in constant and continuous communication with all political parties. There is nothing new for politicians with everything I talked about today,” he confirmed.
“It [electing a president] is an urgent necessity for several considerations: the collapsed economy, secondly the social and security problems we face, the situation in the south, and fourthly the Syrian displacement and its repercussions on the Lebanese economy and society, and relations with sisterly Syria, and all of these matters we need to address,” Hayek added.