Aoun Hits Back at Those Accusing Him of Seeking Partition

The Presidency on Thursday snapped back at those who criticized President Michel Aoun over the administrative and financial decentralization remarks in his latest speech.

“Politicians and journalists have deliberately taken out of context parts of President Michel Aoun’s address to the nation, interpreting them in a manner that contradicts with reality, for objectives that are no longer concealed from anyone,” the Presidency said in a statement.

It also “clarified” some points to “those who went too far in their imaginations, whether deliberately or due to misinterpretation.”

“President Aoun reminds those keen on Lebanon’s unity and claiming to be against its partitioning that he was the one who launched his famous slogan, ‘Lebanon is too big to be swallowed and too small to be partitioned,’ during an official visit to Washington in 1978,” the Presidency added.

“As for those who deliberately or inadvertently misunderstood the idea of broad administrative and financial decentralization in the President’s message, the Presidency would like to stress that administrative and financial decentralization go together, according to the Document of National Accord (Taef Accord),” the Presidency said.

It also stressed that “public services at the local level do not violate the central state’s system of public finance, security and foreign policy.”

In his televised address on Monday, the President had said that the solution for Lebanon’s crises “requires transiting to a civil state and a new system based on broad administrative and financial decentralization.”

“The coming elections must be a referendum on this,” he added.