LF says Hezbollah-led camp still obstructing presidential election

The Lebanese Forces on Friday called for open-ended parliamentary sessions to elect a new president, accusing the Hezbollah-led camp of "continuing to block the election while falsely blaming the LF."

“We believed for a moment that this tragedy that the Lebanese are experiencing at the present time will push some political figures, especially the Defiance camp, to deeply review all their positions that have brought Lebanon and the Lebanese to where we are now,” the LF said in a statement.

“As soon as the LF and the opposition showed all positivity, as usual, the other team began to back down little by little, starting with linking the presidential elections to a ceasefire all the way to the condition of securing the consensus of 86 MPs, which is impossible, while also reaching the point of considering former MP Suleiman Franjieh as a consensus candidate,” the LF added.

“This is in addition to the confirmation by several sources from Hezbollah that the current time is not the for constitutional junctures or political files but rather for the battlefield,” the LF said.

They have launched a “focused campaign that pins the blame on the Lebanese Forces and the opposition camp,” the LF lamented.

Noting that the other camp “went complaining to Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and asked His Beatitude to convince the Christian forces to facilitate the matter of electing a president for the republic,” the LF said “everyone knows that the Defiance camp obstructed the second rounds of all (electoral) sessions.”

“The time is not for obstruction or maneuvers, but rather to get Lebanon and the Lebanese out of this tragedy, and the required step on this path lies in immediately calling for an open-ended presidential election session with successive rounds until a president of the republic is elected,” the LF added.