MP Sami Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb party, expressed firm reservations about the National Moderation bloc's initiative to break the deadlock in the presidential election, without directly rejecting it.
He said that “nothing distinguishes the initiatives that have been proposed from the one defended by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri,” who calls for a dialogue in order to reach agreement on a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. MP Gemayel noted that his colleague “Ali Hassan Khalil clarified the Moderation's initiative as a process of dialogue, as Berri had previously called for.”
As a reminder, the National Moderation bloc's initiative would involve bringing together MPs from different blocs in Parliament, then calling for an open parliamentary session with successive rounds until a new president is elected.
In an interview with local channel Al-Jadeed, Gemayel launched into an argument that shows the flaws in such an approach.
He said, “First, we have not seen any commitment by the opposite team (Amal and Hezbollah) to hold open sessions, not just consecutive ones, and second, the March 8 candidate Sleiman Frangieh did not withdraw from the presidential race, so we are still at ground zero today, and I wonder how some agreed to an initiative that did not address these structural points in light of Hezbollah's refusal to discuss a third candidate.”
“For us, the solution is a clear position from Hezbollah to accept another candidate and accept consensus with the rest of the Lebanese,” he said, adding that all the initiatives that could be put forward would be a waste of time.
A delegation of the Moderation's bloc will meet on Monday with Hezbollah's MPs.
“The process of imposing a president on the Lebanese by force of arms and artillery is in practice a coup by Hezbollah against the constitution by disrupting the democratic process that has not been in its favor for a year and a half,” he said, stressing that this step will be met with confrontation by all available means.
For Gemayel, “The absence of a president today ends the entire state and eliminates all possibilities for advancement, the chances of forming a new government, the possibility of approving reforms for economic advancement, and everything that can be implemented to save the country.”
He said that “nothing distinguishes the initiatives that have been proposed from the one defended by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri,” who calls for a dialogue in order to reach agreement on a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. MP Gemayel noted that his colleague “Ali Hassan Khalil clarified the Moderation's initiative as a process of dialogue, as Berri had previously called for.”
As a reminder, the National Moderation bloc's initiative would involve bringing together MPs from different blocs in Parliament, then calling for an open parliamentary session with successive rounds until a new president is elected.
In an interview with local channel Al-Jadeed, Gemayel launched into an argument that shows the flaws in such an approach.
He said, “First, we have not seen any commitment by the opposite team (Amal and Hezbollah) to hold open sessions, not just consecutive ones, and second, the March 8 candidate Sleiman Frangieh did not withdraw from the presidential race, so we are still at ground zero today, and I wonder how some agreed to an initiative that did not address these structural points in light of Hezbollah's refusal to discuss a third candidate.”
“For us, the solution is a clear position from Hezbollah to accept another candidate and accept consensus with the rest of the Lebanese,” he said, adding that all the initiatives that could be put forward would be a waste of time.
A delegation of the Moderation's bloc will meet on Monday with Hezbollah's MPs.
“The process of imposing a president on the Lebanese by force of arms and artillery is in practice a coup by Hezbollah against the constitution by disrupting the democratic process that has not been in its favor for a year and a half,” he said, stressing that this step will be met with confrontation by all available means.
For Gemayel, “The absence of a president today ends the entire state and eliminates all possibilities for advancement, the chances of forming a new government, the possibility of approving reforms for economic advancement, and everything that can be implemented to save the country.”
This Is Beirut
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