Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri compared the current phase Lebanon is going through to a phase of “political madness”. He criticized “each party who believes itself greater than its country and clings to its political positions.”
After meeting a large delegation from the youth and students’ sector in the Future Movement on Saturday, he stated that his personal way of working in politics was different. “We managed to contain disputes with Hezbollah and rise above all the disagreements with other parties. We made sure not to display these disagreements publicly,” he said. The former PM talked about how he tried to manage the affairs of the country by taking matters to heart, developing the economy, improving the functioning of the institutions upon which the state relies, carrying out necessary reforms, and not clinging to his political positions.
“That was my focus, and I never cared about what was said against me because my main concern was achieving accomplishments and reforms,” he said. “But unfortunately, the prevailing mentality led me to a point where I felt exhausted, unable to accomplish, so I decided to suspend political work. Perhaps today people discover what I was subjected to in terms of attempts to defame or falsely accuse me,” he added. Hariri noted that had he remained in political work, he “would have been forced to negotiate again and make compromises, bearing the responsibility alone in the end.”
He pointed out that the Future Movement has been relatively inactive during the past two years, “but now we will intensify our work more, not in political matters, but to assert that any attempt to restrict those affiliated with the Future Movement in the state and beyond will not be tolerated at all.” “We will stand against anyone leaning towards extremism, as this is forbidden for us,” Hariri said.
“Lebanon must eventually reach the desired stability, so the young generation in this country must be present to keep pace with every development,” the former PM concluded.
