Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Joumblat, has announced his resignation from the party’s leadership after 46 years.
Joumblat’s resignation, which he announced through the PSP’s Al-Anbaa newspaper on Thursday, paves way for passing the leadership to his son, Taymour.
The Druze leader called for a party conference on June 25 to choose his successor, and tasked the party’s secretary general to make the necessary preparations.
Zafer Nasser, the general secretary of the Progressive Socialist Party, described the move as an “internal organizational move and normal step in the electoral process.”
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that other steps will follow the resignation, including staging elections to choose the party’s leadership.
Joumblat had led the PSP since his father’s assassination in 1977.
His stepping down from political work was a surprise for many, in light of a crucial phase Lebanon is passing through.
The crisis-hit country is witnessing a vacuum at the top state post, amid international pressures to implement the necessary reforms to unlock millions of dollars in IMF aid, and numerous challenging regional developments.
According to sources close to Joumblat, the PSP leader “can’t quit or leave politics for good, it is out of the question,” they said on condition of anonymity.
They assured that the PSP leader will “always be there to support his son” Taymour, when he assumes the leadership of the party.
