Gemayel Hails Geagea's 'Positive Proposal' to Withdraw Presidential Candidacy Should Need Arise

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel stressed that contacts between various political leaderships is necessary in order to stage the presidential elections, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday.

He praised to the daily Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's recent “positive” proposal to withdraw his candidacy from the presidential elections if a deal was reached to back the candidacy of another March 14 alliance member.

Asked by the daily if his tour on various officials earlier during the week will pave the way to him running in he elections, Gemayel replied by stressing the importance of staging the polls and saving the republic.

“Contacts between the leaderships is necessary at this stage, because the lack of communication signifies the loss of hope,” he explained.

“We set in place a means to communicate between the major political powers,” he revealed.

Meanwhile, sources close to Gemayel told An Nahar daily Sunday that his talks with political leader were “difficult, but they paved the way for further contacts in the future.”

They also denied that he had presented himself as a candidate.

They said that his “most pessimistic talks” took place with Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, who had expressed doubts over the possibility of electing a president before the end of the constitutional deadline on May 25.

His talks with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun were described as “relaxed,” while Gemayel described them as “existential and national.”

For his part, Aoun thanked the Kataeb chief for his initiative to hold talks with political leaders in an attempt to bridge the divide between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over the elections.

He voiced his optimism that his meetings will meet the desired results.

Gemayel has met with several leaders in the country in the past week as part of his initiative to resolve the presidential deadlock.

He has held talks so far with Geagea, Aoun, Franjieh and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.

The ongoing disagreement between the March 8 and 14 camps is raising fears that they will fail to elect a president before May 25, resulting in vacuum in the country's top post.

One presidential elections session was held on April 23, but neither Geagea nor Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou garnered the necessary 86 votes to emerge victorious.

Two other sessions were supposed to be held, but they failed over lack of quorum after a March 8 camp boycott over the ongoing disagreement over a candidate.

The fourth session is scheduled for May 15.

M.T.