Tripoli Renewal Bloc MP Ashraf Rifi revealed that Jean-Yves Le Drian, the personal envoy of French President Emmanuel Macron, asked two fundamental questions during his visit to Lebanon: “The first one requested a description of the situation, so we described it in this context. In the second question, he wanted to know our vision on how to exit the current situation.” “Our answer was clear and simple: the need to hold a presidential election session in accordance with the Lebanese Constitution and in successive rounds,” he added.
“The sovereign forces in the country have a solid nucleus that controls the course of affairs, contrary to the previous situation in the Parliament where ‘Hezbollah’ controlled 72 deputies, in conjunction with the Iranians,” Rifi said from the headquarters of the Lebanese Forces in Meerab, where he held talks with LF leader Samir Geagea.
“We all witnessed how the party attempted to deceive us through psychological warfare, claiming it can ‘secure’ 65 votes for its candidate (Marada chief, Sleiman Frangieh) whenever he is ready. However, the June 14 session confirmed that we are ready to enforce the Constitution whenever necessary, through holding a complete election session,” he added.
According to Rifi, “the numbers resulting from the June 14 session were remarkable and clear, although Hezbollah considered them a matter of ‘perspective.’”
“They tried to convince us with their equation of ’51 votes being more than 59 votes.’ We reminded them that there is a sovereign front that rejects the Iranian hegemony that Lebanon is witnessing through them. It is a strong and highly cohesive Christian-Islamic state. Therefore, we continue our battle and remain resilient, God willing, to strengthen this state even more, so that we can prevent Iranian influence over our nation,” he said.
Furthermore, Rifi believed that the French are “trying to escape from the dual candidate they named (Sleiman Frangieh as head of state and Ambassador Nawaf Salam as prime minister), especially since the Christians refuse to have a ‘Hezbollah’ candidate as their candidate, and the matter is the same for the Sunnis who refuse the candidacy of Ambassador Nawaf Salam because he does not represent them.”
