Aoun: 'Invisible Players' Orchestrated Jounieh Battle, Maarab Agreement Intact

Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun alleged Tuesday that “invisible players” confronted the FPM-backed list in Jounieh's municipal polls, while stressing that the elections will not affect his movement's rapprochement agreement with the Lebanese Forces.

“All the information we received about vote buying operations in Jounieh were verified through steps that were taken on the ground” by the rival alliance, Aoun said in an interview on OTV.

“Before the elections, we knew that something was being prepared with the aim of being used after the polls,” he noted.

“Money had started flowing into Jounieh since Wednesday and vote buying operations started on Friday by individuals who do not hail from Jounieh,” Aoun claimed.

Following a heated electoral battle and close results, the list backed by the FPM, the Kataeb Party, the National Liberal Party, the Tashnag Party and the Waad Party managed to clinch 14 seats on Jounieh's municipal council as the rival list grabbed four seats.

On Saturday, a day before Jounieh's municipal vote, Aoun had charged that “an Africa-based Lebanese billionaire” was paying money in support of the rival list, which was formed by prominent Jounieh businessman Neamat Frem, ex-MPs Mansour Ghanem al-Bon and Farid Haykal al-Khazen, and the Lebanese Forces.

He was apparently referring to Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire businessman who reportedly played a role in ex-PM Saad Hariri's nomination of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency after meetings in Paris.

Franjieh emerged as Aoun's main rival in the electoral race after the Hariri-Franjieh meeting.

“Invisible players were orchestrating the battle in Jounieh and we knew how the game was being run. Local representatives of the team that was orchestrating the campaign were on the ground,” Aoun said during Tuesday's interview.

“I don't think that (Lebanese Forces leader Samir) Geagea was part of this game and he had commitments with candidates who were on the other list,” he explained, reassuring that “the electoral battle in Jounieh will not affect the Maarab agreement.”

“I don't need the municipal elections to prove that I'm the most popular Christian politician,” Aoun went on to say.

Y.R.