Gemayel Slams Govt., Says 'Regional Axes' Candidates Can't Reach Baabda Palace

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel blasted the government on Monday as “unproductive,” while stressing that presidential hopefuls “belonging to regional axes” cannot make it to the presidential palace in Baabda in the current circumstances.

“This government was supposed to be a national unity government aimed at securing the election of a new president, and it was supposed to serve for no longer than two or three months,” said Gemayel after the weekly meeting of Kataeb's political bureau.

“Citizens can no longer bear all the crises … This government has become unproductive, and it should have kept its sessions open-ended until it finds a solution for the garbage crisis,” he added.

Slamming the political parties of which Prime Minister Tammam Salam's government consists, Gemayel lamented that they only care about “their interests.”

“We have offered all the possible solutions and can no longer take the negligence in the cabinet … From now on, we consider ourselves to be unbound by cabinet solidarity,” he added.

“The decision to leave garbage on the streets was probably deliberate,” the lawmaker charged.

As an exit, Gemayel proposed electing a new president in order to form a new government and hold parliamentary elections “so that people can hold the officials accountable.”

Turning to the protracting presidential vacuum, Gemayel put the blame on the "40 MPs who are boycotting the electoral sessions."

“The 'either me or no one else' approach can no longer work. Any candidate belonging to a regional axis cannot be elected president,” he stressed.

“Kataeb calls for turning the page and starting a new one because there is an emergency situation in the country,” the Kataeb chief added.

In response to a reporter's question, Gemayel underlined that “there is no alternative to electing a centrist president,” describing his father, former Lebanese president and Kataeb chief Amin Gemayel, as a “consensual” candidate.

Y.R.

M.T.