Adwan Says Geagea Serious Candidate to Presidency

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said on Wednesday that the party's chief Samir Geagea is candidate to the presidency, pointing out that the party will soon announce the principles that it will adopt to communicate with its March 14 allies.

“The Lebanese Forces is seriously mulling to endorse Geagea's candidacy,” LF deputy chief Adwan said in an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper.

He stressed that the party will establish a roadmap and principles over its vision for the presidential elections and ways to deal with its allies.

“The Lebanese Forces has a clear stance from the presidency and the formation of the cabinet,” Adwan told the newspaper.

He noted that the party will gradually announce its stance from each presidential candidate based on its convictions and political principles.

Adwan said that all parties should announce clear stances concerning the matter.

“We will press for the appointment of a president who would take clear political stances, in particular, over matters that concern us,” the lawmaker said.

“We will not accept a consensual president.”

Adwan stressed that the presidential elections should be staged on time in order to “choose the best candidate,” rejecting vacuum.

President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ends in May 2014, but the constitutional period to elect a new head of state begins on March 25, two months prior to the expiration of his mandate.

On remarks by the LF that its ready to engage in dialogue with Hizbullah, Adwan clarified that the “party's stances are constant.”

“We are seeking real national partnership with all the Lebanese factions without any exception,” the lawmaker said, noting that “all sides should abide by the national accord and shouldn't solely take the peace and war decision.”

“We want dialogue with Hizbullah under the state's auspices,” Adwan said.

Geagea has expressed recently in an interview readiness to engage in a “serious dialogue” with its arch foe Hizbullah.

“There is no tension with Hizbullah. Our differences with it are not personal or sectarian.”

Asked about the rapprochement between al-Mustaqbal leader Saad Hariri and his foe Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Adwan considered that “the matter should be judged by the results.”

“If al-Mustaqbal acted according to the March 14 principles then we agree with them... We encourage any rapprochement between two political parties,” the MP said.

Aoun,who is Hizbullah's top ally in the March 8 camp, had met with Hariri ahead of the formation of Salam's cabinet in February.

“We have our differences with al-Mustaqbal movement over the participation in the cabinet,” Adwan revealed, noting that “differences don't indicate that we disagree on the main principles that gather us.”

The LF has not taken part in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's 24-member government for refusing to share power with Hizbullah.