Naharnet

Kataeb Urges Election of President on Sep. 28 without 'Intimidation, Blackmail'

The Kataeb Party stressed Monday that the September 28 presidential vote session must be a “constitutional process” not involving any “intimidation” or “blackmail.”

“Quorum must be secured for electing a president in the Sep. 28 presidential vote session, which must be a constitutional process not involving intimidation or a distribution of shares,” Kataeb's political bureau said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

“No one is authorized to paralyze the country, blackmail the Lebanese, or distribute or withhold the constitutional posts,” it added.

And stressing that “sovereignty is not a small detail in political life,” Kataeb reiterated its rejection of electing “any candidate not carrying a sovereign, national project.”

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The ex-PM's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between the two parties.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.


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