Geagea Reiterates Proposal to Withdraw Candidacy, Calls for End of Political Impasse

Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea revealed on Wednesday that he will propose again his solution to the presidential deadlock, stressing that the stalemate should end swiftly.

Geagea said in remarks published in An Nahar newspaper that he will seek with his March 14 allies to suggest anew his solution to end the presidential stalemate.

He noted that his “initiative” highlights the selection of another March 14 candidate, but if the allies failed he would remain their sole nominee for the presidency.

In May, Geagea proposed to withdraw his candidacy from the presidential elections if a deal was reached to back the candidacy of another March 14 alliance member.

The Christian leader considered that the camp should settle on a candidate ahead of the upcoming parliamentary session on September 2 to elect a new head of state.

“We are seeking to end the enforced vacuum at the Baabda Palace,” Geagea told al-Mustaqbal newspaper.

The LF chief said that the March 14 coalition has been pressing to end the stalemate through democratic and civilized means.

However, he expressed regret that “the exerted efforts are being thwarted by the other team's stubbornness.”

Lebanon's top Christian post was left vacant in May this year when the rival MPs failed to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman over their differences on a compromise candidate.

The majority of the March 8 alliance's MPs, including Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun's parliamentary bloc, boycotted the sessions aimed at electing a head of state, causing lack of quorum.

Concerning the growing power of the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant in the region, Geagea accused the regimes of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of supporting and nourishing it.

He pointed out that efforts should be exerted to combat this “phenomenon” and eliminate it as soon as possible.

Islamic State militants in Iraq have been waging a campaign against minorities in Iraq, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

Islamic State (IS) jihadists launched in early June a major offensive in northern Iraq, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside.

The militants have declared a "caliphate" straddling vast areas of Iraq and Syria.

H.K.

G.K.