Jumblat: Hariri Invited Me for Iqlim Kharroub Electoral Tour....I Apologized

Following reports that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat was dismayed by PM Saad Hariri for carrying out an electoral tour “without coordination,” Jumblat said he was invited to take the tour to Iqlim al-Kharroub in the Chouf district, but has apologized for meeting the request, al-Joumhouria daily reported Friday.

In an interview with the daily, Jumblat said: “Obviously Hariri implicitly wanted to go alone to Iqlim al-Kharroub.There was no need for us to be there by his side.”

“Hariri invited me yesterday to participate in the tour, but I apologized because I sensed that the content of the invitation is of a classical and "preferential" nature,” added Jumblat.

“One concludes that the celebration is solely for al-Mustaqbal Movement. We do not accept to be guests or merely an addition,” he said.

Hariri on Thursday toured Iqlim al-Kharroub, a majority Sunni area in the Chouf district, the bastion of Druze leader Jumblat.

Hariri and Jumblat are allied in Iqlim al-Kharroub and the Chouf-Aley electoral district. Taimur Jumblat (the PSP leader’s son) who heads the electoral alliance, was not present at the Barja rally.

Reports said the PSP was dismayed after Hariri carried out his electoral tour “without coordination.”