Geagea slams Change and independent MPs over presidential nominations
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday lashed out at the Change and independent MPs over their nominations for the presidential election.
“The way MPs behaved today was a real tragedy,” Geagea said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV, referring to the presidential election session that was held earlier in the day, which failed to produce a new president in the fourth such failure since September 29.
Asked whether he was referring to the Change and independent MPs, Geagea clarified that he meant all lawmakers.
“The LF, the Kataeb Party and the Progressive Socialist Party have major representation in the country,” Geagea added, addressing the Change bloc.
“I cannot label the ‘non-(axis of) defiance camp’ as an opposition camp,” Geagea went on to say, criticizing the opposition parties’ failure to reach consensus over a presidential candidate.
“They are rejecting to talk to us and are not proposing a candidate,” he lamented.
“No one has proposed a solution or a candidate who can win a certain number of votes… Has Michel Mouawad become a traitor?” Geagea asked.
Asked whether the Change and independent MPs would be responsible for presidential vacuum, the LF leader said “they certainly bear the responsibility because they are not endorsing Michel Mouawad nor proposing anyone else.”
“We want a president to pull us out of the crisis and we will not engage in settlements,” Geagea added. “We want a president who would put an end to smuggling,” he said.
As for his repeated announcements that he is not opposed to the election of Army chief General Joseph Aoun as president, Geagea clarified: “The army chief has neither asked us to nominate him nor not to nominate him.”
Describing Gen. Aoun as an acceptable candidate, the LF leader added that he believes that Hezbollah cannot endorse someone like the army commander because he would be able to take independent decisions.
“ Political contacts are certainly severed with Hezbollah except for the communication among MPs,” Geagea said, in response to a question.
Slamming the Hezbollah-led camp, the LF leader said that “they want to paralyze the country because they cannot find a candidate through which they can win the battle.”
“The ‘defiance camp’ has not done anything to reach consensus and they are lying… I have not rejected any serious initiative regarding the presidential election,” Geagea added.
Addressing the so-called "Axis of Defiance", Geagea said: “You should have sought consensus four months prior to the president's departure.”
Geagea also said that his endorsement of President Michel Aoun's nomination in 2016 was a "de facto" move that was imposed on him.
Source: Naharnet
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