The Kataeb Party said Friday it would not back any candidate with a “March 8 platform” for the presidency, a resounding “No” to Michel Aoun and Sleiman Frangieh’s bids, as sources said Hezbollah won’t exert pressure on its allies to facilitate the election.
A March 8 minister said Hezbollah’s firm support for Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency has not changed despite Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea’s endorsement of this candidacy.
“Hezbollah is in consultation and dialogue with its [March 8] allies over the presidency issue,” the minister told The Daily Star.
He refused to comment on Geagea’s call on Hezbollah to bring pressure to bear on March 8 allies to vote for MP Aoun and on MP Frangieh to withdraw from the presidency race. “Hezbollah does not exert pressure on its allies. It has never done this before,” the minister said.
Days after stunning the political landscape by endorsing his longtime rival Aoun for president, Geagea Wednesday challenged Hezbollah to rally the March 8 bloc behind the Free Patriotic Movement founder, calling it the party’s “moment of truth.”
Geagea’s surprise support for Aoun’s candidacy is primarily aimed at undermining the Marada Movement leader’s presidential chances. The LF leader has called on his allies in the March 14 coalition, led by the Future Movement, to rally behind Aoun’s bid.
Despite Geagea’s support for Aoun, Frangieh has vowed to stay in the presidency race.
While Aoun can count on the support of Hezbollah and the LF, Frangieh has the backing of the Future Movement, Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement and most likely MP Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party as part of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s initiative to end the 20-month-old presidential deadlock and revive the work of Parliament and the government.
Effectively, either camp can scuttle a Parliament session set for Feb. 8 to elect a president by boycotting the session. Parliament requires a quorum of two-thirds of its 128 members to convene.
Geagea’s decision to back Aoun comes as Hariri’s initiative supporting Frangieh’s presidential bid has been stymied by vehement opposition from the three main Christian parties: The FPM, the LF and the Kataeb Party.
Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel poured cold water on both Aoun’s and Frangieh’s candidacies, accusing the two candidates of serving the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition’s political project. “We have been invited to vote for Gen. Aoun. I am going to be very clear and frank on this issue. We will not elect any candidate who carries the March 8 platform,” Gemayel told a news conference at his residence in Bikfaya, drawing loud applause from Kataeb ministers, lawmakers and other officials.
“We will elect a Lebanese candidate who carries a Lebanese platform made in Lebanon. Otherwise, we will not elect him,” he said.
Gemayel said he would quiz Aoun over his foreign policy positions to see where he placed loyalties. “The same questions we asked Frangieh, we are asking Aoun on his position on Lebanon’s foreign policy, particularly the Syrian crisis. Is he with [Syrian President] Bashar [Assad], or with the opposition, or on the sidelines?” Gemayel said.
“We are not asking this question to play a game on TV. We are asking this question because the next president who comes is either going to hurt the Lebanese people or protect the Lebanese people,” he added. “If we support Assad, we will be threatened by Daesh [ISIS]. If we support the opposition, we will be targeted by the others. We are accustomed to being harmed by this other [Syria regime].”
Despite his opposition to Aoun’s candidacy, Gemayel praised the reconciliation between Geagea and the FPM founder at the former’s residence in Maarab this week as “a positive development.”
“We have witnessed a reconciliation between two political factions that have been in conflict for a long time. This reconciliation is important for Lebanon’s future,” he said, calling on the erstwhile rivals to continue this step to reach “a political agreement based on a joint vision for the future of Lebanon.”
“This political agreement should be based on four main principles: Preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty, Lebanon’s neutrality amid the regional and sectarian struggles, an agreement to develop our political system if the goal is to strengthen partnership, and a return to institutions and commitment to the Constitution,” Gemayel said. “We are ready if there is an intention to reach a political agreement to serve as a road map for building a better Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, officials and foreign ambassadors resumed consultations in search of a solution to the presidential stalemate.
While interim U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones met with Geagea at the latter’s residence in Maarab, north of Beirut, to discuss political developments in Lebanon, particularly the presidential crisis, the French Ambassador to Lebanon Emanuel Bon held similar talks with Frangieh at the latter’s residence in the north town of Bnaishe.
MP Ibrahim Kanaan from the FPM called for the election of a president as soon as possible following Geagea’s endorsement of Aoun’s candidacy.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Geagea in Maarab, Kanaan, a close aide to Aoun who has been a key player in the LF-FPM reconciliation, called on rivals to expand the agreement between the two Christian parties over the presidential crisis to include all factions in order to elect a head of state who has the characteristics agreed upon during the country’s national dialogue.
The LF and FPM “opened a new page not only for Christians but for all of Lebanon,” Kanaan said. “Our joint presidential platform is based on national reconciliation, and not only on inter-Christian consensus.”
In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite channel, Geagea said it was too “early to judge the stances of rivals on the unexpected initiative [endorsing Aoun’s candidacy] ... they still need time to absorb it and decide.”
“We will elect a president at the end of the day, but things are taking time.”
He acknowledged that his relations with Hariri have been strained by differences over the presidency issue. “There are no direct contacts with Hariri these days,” Geagea said.
Meanwhile, premier Tammam Salam called for a new Cabinet session for next Thursday despite an ongoing row among ministers over military appointments and the body’s decision-making system in the absence of a president
FPM and Hezbollah Ministers boycotted a Cabinet session on Jan. 14 because the issue of military and security appointments, a key FPM demand, was not on the agenda.
Earlier this week, Defense Minister Samir Moqbel revealed that he had a list of names of nominees to fill the three vacant seats of the six-member Military Council and would present them at the next Cabinet session.
