Aoun Says Will Not Run in Presidential Race if Mustaqbal Endorses Geagea
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun announced on Wednesday that he will not be a presidential candidate against Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea, if the latter gained al-Mustaqbal Movement's support.
"If the March 14 coalition and al-Mustaqbal Movement announced their support for Geagea in the presidential elections, I will not nominate myself,” Aoun stated in an interview on Al-Mayadeen television.
"I will not be a nominee against Samir Geagea. I don't want to run against anyone,” he added.
“If conditions were favorable, I am a candidate for presidency, and I am a strong one. And if they were not, then I will not nominate myself.”
“My decision is not final yet,” he noted.
Aoun stressed that the same standards followed in choosing the speaker and the premier must apply to electing the new president, adding that "a presidential vacuum is possible if proper Christian representation was not respected."
“It is either we respect this Christian post and Christian representation or we don't,” he said.
The FPM leader remarked that without the support of the Shiites and the Druze, he will not be elected president.
He also rejected comparing the FPM's popularity with that of the LF, saying parliamentary elections are a clear indication of the popular support to either parties.
On his plans if elected president, Aoun said: “Lebanon's presidents come to the post with commitments to foreign nations. I am not that type and it is not about money or power. I want to leave a legacy, and I want to offer a program that solves problems on many levels in the country.”
“I have big plans for Lebanon and the country has been on the same path since 1943. We want to change this path.”
Asked about Hizbullah's resistance, Aoun commented that it would not have existed if people didn't embrace it.
“The resistance gave the best results and was able to do what all armies of the world were not capable of doing. All these nations looked up to the achievements of the resistance.”
He also acknowledged during the interview that he met with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in the Italian capital Rome.
“We talked about collaboration in the future, and we opened a new chapter in bilateral relations,” he revealed.
Separately, Aoun said he would have hoped that the regime in Syria was democratic and respected people's desires.
“But what made us adopt a certain stance in respect to the situation in the country was our evaluation of alternatives that would prevail if the regime was overthrown,” he said,
He pointed out that Syrian President Bashar Assad's strength enabled him to endure until now, praising also the regime's "protection of Christians in the neighboring country."
S.D.B.
Y.R.
Source: Naharnet
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