Geagea Says Will 'Withdraw Hizbullah from Syria' if Elected President
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced that he is a “natural” candidate for presidency, vowing to withdraw Hizbullah's forces from neighboring Syria if he was elected the next head of state.
"I am naturally a candidate for presidency since I am the head of the most popular Christian party in Lebanon according to polls,” Geagea said in an interview on Al-Arabiya television that aired on Wednesday.
"It is only natural that my name is in the discussed list of nominees, but I am waiting for the right moment to announce my candidacy.”
Geagea elaborated on his stance on the presidency: “Having a strong president in Lebanon is in everyone's interest. Such a leader that can restore the presidency's strength and glory, or else, the situation in Lebanon will remain the same, or even become worse. This is in not in any party's interest.”
He continued: “We need a president that has a clear political agenda, and of course I will withdraw Hizbullah's fighters from Syria if I become president.”
"We can do anything under the ceiling of the law and when we have a president that proposes things clearly, all factions will take his/her opinion into consideration. No one can ignore the president and the presidency's stances.”
"This is why many are exerting all efforts to prevent electing a strong president,” he considered.
The LF leader praised president Michel Suleiman's “stances and strength,” but considered that he "did not have the ability to act since he was a consensual head of state."
"He had to take the viewpoints of all parties into consideration,” Geagea said. “Any consensual president cannot have a political agenda, regardless of the strength of his personality.”
The Christian leader pointed out that there are around 10 votes in the parliament that can make the difference during the president's election.
"These are 10 centrist MPs and among them is (Progressive Socialist Party leader) MP Walid Jumblat's parliamentary bloc and the independent deputies of (the northern city of) Tripoli,” he detailed.
Asked about whether Jumblat would vote for him of for Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, Geagea said the Druze leader's decisions depend on many political considerations.
He also urged exerting all possible efforts to hold the presidential vote on time, rejecting any talks about vacuum.
Suleiman's six-year tenure ends in May 2014, but the constitutional period to elect a new head of state began on March 25.
Separately, Geagea assured that his party is not allied with Hizbullah, as they hold opposing political stances.
"There is a huge gap between us and Hizbullah and if the party was able to bridge this gap by changing its ideology, of course we would not mind allying with it," he stated.
"Our stance has always been clear; we have to communicate with Hizbullah to reach the desired outcome and any dialogue's basis must be the constitution firstly, and secondly the laws," he explained.
"But until now, Hizbullah has not taken dialogue seriously, and we boycotted the national dialogue sessions in 2012 because of the party's attitude," he said.
On the Lebanese Forces' relations with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement, he pointed out that the alliance remains strong under March 14's umbrella, despite the occasional tensed atmospheres that prevail while debating certain issues.
Geagea reiterated that the turbulent situation in the northern city of Tripoli and the border town of Arsal is caused by Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war.
"The party dragged Lebanon into Syria's turmoil and this provoked faction in the opposition to launch operations on Lebanese towns,” he said.
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