Gemayel Accuses Hizbullah, FPM of Obstructing Presidential Elections

Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel lashed out on Saturday at the Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah, accusing them of having interests to impede the election of a new head of state.

“Whoever wants to run for the presidency has the right... If the candidate didn't have enough support at the parliament then he withdraws,” Gemayel said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

He considered the delay in electing a new president as a “coup against the constitution and violates the constitutional norms.”

Gemayel warned of “Hizbullah's decision to hold onto the candidacy of (FPM chief Michel) Aoun, despite his low chances to reach the post.”

“This could only mean that the party (Hizbullah) doesn't want to stage the presidential elections.”

The Christian leader described Speaker Nabih Berri's continuous calls on the parliament to convene to elect a new president as a “constitutional task.”

He considered the lack of quorum, which is caused by Hizbullah and the FPM's lawmakers, is “skillfully” played.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May.

Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the elections.

The majority of the March 8 alliance's MPs have been causing a lack of quorum in sessions aimed at electing a president, leaving the country without a head of state.

Gemayel told his interviewer that his recent meeting with al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri in Paris tackled the “necessity of electing a new head of state, whether it was Amin Gemayel or anyone else who is capable of garnering the votes of half-plus-one of lawmakers.”

“My name has been suggested for the presidency post, but nothing has changed yet.”

Asked if the political arch-foes are still discussing the election of a consensual head of state, the Kataeb leader said: “A consensual president doesn't contrast the strong president... My candidacy could be the solution.”

Concerning the controversial extension of the parliament's tenure, Gemayel reiterated that the shouldn't convene amid the vacuum at the Baabda Palace to legislate as it should only hold sessions to elect a new president.

However, he said that his parliamentary bloc will not resign if the parliamentary term was extended, saying: “We cannot boycott the constitutional institutions... If the extension took place we will cooperate.”

Hariri had stated on Tuesday after talks in Paris with French President Francois Hollande that the presidential elections should be a priority for Lebanon, revealing that his movement will not participate in the parliamentary polls should they be held in the absence of a president.

Some political blocks have been demanding that the parliamentary elections, which are set for November, should be held even if a head of state is not elected.

Others have been demanding that parliament's term be extended for a second time given the vacuum, poor security situation, and dispute over an electoral law.

Poor security and the disagreement over the law forced the extension of parliament's term last year.

On the bombing of an Israeli patrol in the Shebaa Farms, Gemayel described it as a “risk that could involve the country in incidents that it doesn't need.”

Hizbullah claimed on Tuesday a roadside bomb in the occupied Shebaa Farms area near the ceasefire line that wounded two Israeli soldiers and prompted Israeli artillery fire into southern Lebanon.

“The decision of war and peace should be in the hands of the Lebanese state,” Gemayel reiterated.

He rejected the so-called self-security, slamming it as “clear violation of the constitution and the law.”

“The only solution is to unite and support the army and the Internal Security Forces,” Gemayel told An Nahar.

“Arming the people will become a burden on the Lebanese in later stages.”