Gemayel: Hizbullah to Pick President Every 6 Years if We Allow It

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel has warned that Hizbullah would choose the country's president “every six years” if the Lebanese accept the “approach” that the Iran-backed party and its allies are currently adopting in the presidential race.

“According to Hizbullah and March 8's dictatorial approach, we either accept (Free Patriotic Movement founder MP) Michel Aoun as their only candidate or else there won't be a president. If the Lebanese accept this approach today, they must know that Hizbullah would then name the new president every six years,” Gemayel cautioned in an interview with the Saudi al-Jazirah newspaper.

“The Lebanese presidency and the Lebanese institutions and people are hostages in Hizbullah's hand,” the lawmaker lamented.

Noting that Hizbullah is “waiting for the outcome of the developments in Syria,” Gemayel pointed out that the party “will keep Lebanon in this state as long as it does not know the manner in which Syria's crisis will end.”

The MP also stated that “the election of a new president in Lebanon would be a firm bulwark in the face of fragmentation and any rethinking of the Lebanese border.”

“We do not have a president nowadays because the country is kidnapped and because a group that has weapons has enough MPs to obstruct the (presidential) vote,” Gemayel added.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and the FPM, Hizbullah and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

Hizbullah and the FPM, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Y.R.