Lebanon’s president, Hezbollah and the Future Movement
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/October 01/16
There have been increasing rumors in Lebanon that an agreement is about to be sealed between Saad Hariri and Michel Aoun (who is allied with Hezbollah) to elect the latter as president.
However, the presidency is not a slice of cake that two or more parties can agree to share.
The election of a president must be properly carried out in parliament.
We refuse to be informed of an agreement – be it realistic or impossible – via media leaks reminiscent of the time when late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad said that the Lebanese people had agreed to extend the presidential term of Elias Harawi, despite none of the Lebanese parties having agreed to this.
We refuse to have the presidency turn into an affair to be finalized through an agreement between the Future Movement and Hezbollah where they divide and distribute shares.
It’s necessary that there are clear agreements involving everyone regarding the presidency.
The presidential candidate must have visions for the future and must not be biased toward a certain party.
The elected president must not be appointed as a result of an agreement between two parties as doing so will mean the president will be restrained and he will thus fail to achieve the Lebanese people’s aspirations.
We don’t want a president who will increase our frustration and we don’t want a strong president according to their standards of power.
We want a patriotic and wise president who reunites the ranks and maintains regional and international relations as well as Lebanon’s brotherly relations with Arab countries.
We are not talking about platonic principles here.
We strongly reject that the presidency become the property of Hezbollah and the Future Movement as if they come to disagree in the future, there will be no chance of reaching a solution.
We strongly reject that the presidency become the property of Hezbollah and the Future Movement.
The presidency is the property of all factions of Lebanese society.
It’s the property of the Lebanese people.
Therefore, the people’s representatives must go to the parliament and continue to perform their duties and practice their electoral right regardless of any developments otherwise they will be viewed as those who obstruct the election of a president and who obstruct the settlement of Lebanon’s pending issues.
**This article was first published in Annahar on Sept. 26, 2016.
