Geagea asks Aoun to work on list of possible presidential candidates
The Daily Star/06.12.14
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea Saturday called on his presidential rival, MP Michel Aoun, to work with him to reach a compromise to resolve the long-deadlocked election.
Geagea said that Aoun had two options, either attend Wednesday’s election session where “you and I would be the presidential candidates” in the “real election game, no other candidate can impose themselves.”
“Or we stop saying that Sunnis and Shiites are choosing a president and sit together to reach an understanding on some names, and we refer them to Parliament for a vote,” Geagea said. “The ball is still in our court, but we cannot tell the universe to wait for us while some are disrupting the poll.”
Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, has said he is ready to attend a Parliament session to elect a president if the race were restricted to himself and Geagea, hinting that MP Walid Jumblatt’s candidate, MP Michel Helou, should withdraw from the race.
Geagea is the March 14 coalition’s presidential nominee, while Aoun is the March 8 group’s undeclared candidate. Aoun and some March 8 MPs, including Hezbollah, have boycotted the parliamentary sessions to elect a new president, arguing that such votes are futile unless parties agree beforehand on a consensus candidate.
“We cannot leave things as they are. The presidential post is shrinking in value and we cannot leave it vacant regardless of the circumstances,” said Geagea, who has repeatedly criticized Aoun for hijacking the presidential vote to secure his own victory.
While welcoming the anticipated dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, Geagea rejected attempting to solve the presidential impasse in that forum.
“Some say that Sunnis and Shiites are heading toward a dialogue to agree on a new Christian president. Sunnis and Shiites seek to defuse the existing sectarian tensions amid a larger Sunni-Shiite conflict in the region,” he said.
“This is a blessed step, but discussing a president and other national issues requires the presence of all parties. Therefore, we should not give this dialogue more than it can handle.”
“All Christian figures in Lebanon consider the presidential post a Christian responsibility that should see a Christian agreement, but what can we do when a major Christian party is disrupting the election?”
