Geagea Urges 'Boycotting MPs' to Attend Elections Sessions, Ignore 'Delusional' Proposals
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urged on Tuesday lawmakers who have been boycotting the presidential elections to attend Wednesday's session and exercise their duties towards the people.
He said in an open letter to the “boycotting MPs”: “I call on you to head to parliament instead of wasting time on illusory proposals.”
He made his comment in reference to the initiative launched by Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun on Monday aimed at ending the deadlock and which calls for the people to elect a president.
The proposal lies in allowing only Christians to vote for their candidates in the first round that would pave way for both Muslims and Christians to choose the two candidates who received the majority of votes in the first round.
“The Lebanese people are waiting for you to fulfill your duties towards them and elect a president and not boycott the meetings in the belief that such an approach will lead to the election of a head of state that favors you,” continued Geagea in his address.
“Such practices are not democratic or political as no one has the right to place personal interests above national ones, especially in light of the situation Lebanon and the region are passing through,” he noted.
“You should therefore listen to your national conscience and elect a president according to your national convictions in order to prevent Lebanon from being plunged into the storms raging in the region,” stated the LF leader.
“Dragging Lebanon towards constitutional vacuum contradicts with the jurisdiction granted to you by the people,” he said.
Lawmakers are obligated to elect a president and preserve constitutional institutions, “whose absence will threaten the nation's existence.”
Seven presidential elections sessions have been held so far, six of which were not staged due to a boycott of March 8 camp lawmakers, mainly those of the Loyalty to the Resistance and Change and Reform blocs.
The boycott was prompted by an ongoing dispute with the March 14 alliance over a presidential candidate.
Geagea had declared his candidacy, while Aoun has said that he will only run in the polls if there is consensus over his nomination.
The term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May.
The eighth presidential elections session is scheduled for Wednesday, but it is expected to meet the same fate as its predecessors.
M.T.
H.K.
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