Geagea: LF, FPM Seeking Adoption of New Electoral Law in First Legislative Session

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Wednesday the need to set as a priority the approval of a new parliamentary electoral law during the next legislative session.

He stated before a delegation from Hawsh al-Oumara: “The LF and Free Patriotic Movement are working hard to adopt a new electoral law during the first legislative session because there are no other issues that are more pressing.”

The law on restoring the nationality of Lebanese residing abroad is also one that enjoys the same importance, he added.

He reassured that Lebanon's stability “will be maintained despite the challenges we are passing through caused by the failure to elect a new president and the paralysis of the government and parliament.”

“The power to change is in the hands of the Lebanese people in the first parliamentary polls that will be held after the election of a president,” Geagea declared.

Furthermore, he stressed that there can be no fear over the fate of Christians in the region given the rise of Islamist extremism and “in spite of what some sides are claiming.”

“Do not fear and don't let anyone instill fear in you. We have endured circumstances that are thousands of times worse than what we are passing through. Our ancestors had persevered and we will as well,” the LF chief told his visiting delegation.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 after the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.

Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls.

The presidential vacuum has crippled the functioning of the government and the parliament.

Earlier, Geagea had criticized the latest speech of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the party's battle against militant groups in Syria's al-Qalamun region, tweeting: “I searched long on the Lebanese map and did not find any village on the border called Sanaa or al-Qalamun.”

“I only found the town of al-Qalamoun near the city of Tripoli and it lies far away from the border,” he noted.

“Can someone explain to me the defensive wars that Nasrallah is talking about? At any rate, who tasked him with waging defensive wars on behalf of all the Lebanese,” he wondered.

On Monday, Islamist rebels led by al-Nusra Front launched a preemptive strike on pro-regime forces in a mountainous area near the Lebanese border, setting off fierce clashes.

Al-Nusra and other groups attacked positions belonging to the regime and Hizbullah, which backs the government, in al-Qalamun.

Last year, government forces backed by Hizbullah managed to expel rebels from most of Qalamun, which lies north of Damascus and runs along the Lebanese border.

But opposition fighters remain entrenched in the mountainous area along the border with Lebanon, and have launched attacks from there.

M.T.

G.K.