The head of the Information and Communication department of the Lebanese Forces, Charles Jabbour, stressed that “the other team must admit that it cannot secure the arrival of its candidate to the Presidency of the Republic,” noting that “the existing political balance did not allow the arrival of our former candidate, MP Michel Moawad, and therefore we chose a new name within the consensual spectrum.”
In an interview with MTV, Jabbour added that “Hizbollah was betting on MP Gibran Bassil backing down, but the beauty of the democratic game was demonstrated best when the Free Patriotic Movement decided to deliver a message to Hizbollah by endorsing the consensual candidate.”
“We want to put an end to the presidential vacuum, and the only reason we went with a consensual candidate, former Minister of Finance Jihad Azour, is because we couldn’t break the deadlock with our first-choice candidate,” Jabbour added.
“Our current main opponent is Hizbollah, while every other faction that disagrees with us is secondary,” Jabbour reiterated.
“Whoever casts a blank vote is knowingly or unknowingly doing Hizbollah’s bidding,” he added.
The head of the communication department in the LFP admitted that Bassil broke away from the historical Christian constants, and that former President Michel Aoun managed to drag the Christian decision-making ability and surrender it to Hizbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.
Jabbour added that “Bassil is facing a great challenge. When there is a massive schism within the same political party regarding a presidential candidate’s endorsement, as in the Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc, this indicates a serious internal structural problem.”
He also admitted that indeed, the Lebanese Forces face a major trust issue with the FPM’s commitment.
In conclusion, Jabbour said that “Hizbollah aims to impose their presidential candidate, and every choice we make, we go all the way supporting it. We currently face three scenarios: either Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh drops out of the presidential race, the parliamentary session fails to convene for an unknown reason, or a premeditated effort not to secure a quorum,” adding that Azour currently has 62 confirmed votes.
