Phalange Party leader MP Sami Gemayel reiterated Wednesday during an interview on MTV that his party cannot vote for any presidential candidate that endorses the March 8 camp’s political vision for the country.
“We refuse to vote for any candidate endorsing March 8’s project,” said Gemayel when asked about reports that he supports the nomination of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh.
As for the nomination of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun, Gemayel called on the head of the Change and Reform bloc to “return to his 2005 stances.”
“We must all return to our roots. We belong to the school of the Lebanese Front, the school of nonnegotiable sovereignty,” Gemayel added.
The assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005 sent shockwaves through Lebanon and led to the birth of the Cedar Revolution , the March 14 anti-Syrian alliance and to the end of three decades of Syrian occupation.
“Should Aoun or Franjieh commit to the principles that we are calling for, we would support any of them, but if they keep covering up for Hezbollah’s project in Lebanon we won’t elect any of them, because that would contradict with our history and struggle and with what our martyrs died for,” Gemayel stressed.
“National sovereignty is not a small detail in political life,” he underlined.
Commenting on the rapprochement agreement between the FPM and the Lebanese Forces, Gemayel said: “Does (Lebanese Forces leader) Dr. (Samir) Geagea approve of Hezbollah’s attempt to impose things on the Lebanese? MP Mohammed Raad has said that Hezbollah wants Aoun as president because the General shares Hezbollah’s vision for Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
“Before the FPM and the LF take to the streets, let them first agree on the same electoral law,” Gemayel added when asked about possible street protests by the two parties over the issue of Christian-Muslim partnership.
“We must choose a competent candidate for the presidency who is not one of the top four Maronite leaders,” Gemayel added, referring to Aoun, Franjieh, Geagea and his father former president Amin Gemayel.
“We want a president who can neutralize Lebanon in the Sunni-Shiite conflict and who would reject dragging Lebanon into regional conflicts,” he went on to say.
And admitting that Aoun “represents half of the Christians,” Gemayel emphasized that “he cannot impose himself as president.”
“Aoun is the head of a large bloc but he must abide by the Lebanese principles of sovereignty.”
As for the FPM’s planned escalation over claims that the other parties in the country are not respecting the 1943 National Pact, Gemayel added: “You cannot speak of the National Pact while you are blocking the election of a president, seeing as respect for the National Pact starts with the election of a president.”
“The second condition for achieving partnership is devising an electoral law while the first condition is the election of a president,” he said.
The Lebanese parliament failed again September 8th and for the 44th time in a row to elect a president to replace Michel Suleiman whose term ended on May 25 , 2014.
As in the past sessions the parliament was unable to reach a quorum because the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and its ally MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc MPs boycotted the session, because they could not reportedly guarantee Aoun’s election as a president.
Amal Movement leader, Speaker Nabih Berri a key ally of Hezbollah postponed the election to September 28.
Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem ( usually referred to as No. 2 ) admitted on Sunday that his party is behind the obstruction of Lebanon presidential election when called on The Future Movement to “end its hesitation” and agree to back Aoun’s presidential bid claiming that that Hezbollah’s MPs would immediately end their boycott of the electoral sessions in order to vote for Aoun.
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