Amin Gemayel Meets Aoun: Resolving Presidential Elections Deadlock is Not an Easy Task

Former head of the Kataeb Party Amin Gemayel acknowledged on Tuesday that resolving the deadlock over the presidential elections is “not an easy task.”

He said after holding talks with Change and Reform bloc head MP Michel Aoun: “Contacts are ongoing with all sides to end the dispute.”

“We fear that the fragmentation of the state could be irreversible,” he added from Rabieh.

“We therefore stress the need to find a solution to the current situation as soon as possible,” he continued.

“We should all find common ground to resolve disputes as we do not have ready-made solutions, but contacts are ongoing between all sides,” explained Gemayel.

“We have to find a solution because vacuum is fatal and it will not spare anyone,” he warned.

“We have to save Lebanon in any way possible and we cannot reach any result without exerting any efforts,” he explained.

Asked by reporters to comment on an alleged meeting to be chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to address the presidential vacuum, Gemayel replied: “I have not received any invite from Bkirki to attend a meeting of the main Christian figures.”

“Preparations are needed for such a meeting in order to avoid any disappointment in the talks,” he remarked.

“We, as Christian and national leaders, need to reassess our stances and take the necessary position on the current situation,” he noted.

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 wake of a meeting he had held in Paris with Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri.

His name is being discussed as a candidate as part of a political settlement that would end the deadlock in Lebanon.