The head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) General Michel Aoun said Friday that he was back to being a presidential candidate, hours after the February 14 rejected his "salvation initiative" as "unconstitutional."
"We came up with this initiative after various foreign powers called on us to save the country from an imminent vacuum ... and it is really unfortunate that they dealt with it with utter negligence," General Aoun said Friday evening.

On Thursday the FPM leader had offered a conditional package to end the deadlock over Lebanon's presidency, proposing that he withdraw his candidacy in favor of a neutral figure to be named by him, who would serve an abbreviated presidential term. At the same time MP Saad Hariri would name a neutral prime minister to head a government of national unity. Under the terms of the deal, Feb. 14 would receive 55 percent of the seats in Cabinet, while the opposition would get the rest. The four senior-most positions, however - defense, finance, foreign affairs and interior - would be evenly split.