Qazzi Meets Geagea: New President Must Enjoy Support of Main Political Factions
Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi noted on Friday that the political settlement proposed by Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri is “facing obstacles,” saying that a president is unlikely to be elected in 2015.
He said after holding talks with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea: “The Kataeb Party demands the election of a president who enjoys the support of the main political powers.”
“This president should respect Lebanon's constitution, sovereignty, and borders,” he stressed.
Moreover, he should adhere to the policy of disassociation and keep the country away from regional conflicts, stated Qazzi.
“A president should be a figure of unity, not division,” he declared to reporters.
“We should adopt a new dynamic to elect a president because the vacuum should no longer persist,” he emphasized.
“The Kataeb Party therefore seeks national assurances, not personal ones, regarding the presidential elections,” the minister explained.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.
Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.
Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh emerged in recent weeks as a potential presidential candidate in the wake of a meeting he held with Hariri in Paris.
His candidacy is being proposed alongside a settlement that would end the political deadlock in Lebanon.
The efforts to nominate Franjieh have however been met with objections from the Christian parties of the Kataeb, Free Patriotic Movement, and Lebanese Forces.
M.T.
D.A.
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