Gemayel: Our Nomination of Hariri is a Result of the Elections, It's Not a Challenge to Anyone

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel stressed on Friday the importance that parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister should take place during a calm atmosphere away from the pressures that are being exerted on the institutions.

He said in a statement after meeting President Michel Suleiman: "The pressures on the institutions have reached the point of terrorization."

"If the opposition is claiming to now have become the majority, then it has no need to resort to these tactics," he noted.

"The Phalange Party's nomination of Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is not a challenge to any side, but it is a result of the latest parliamentary elections that granted the March 14 forces the majority," Gemayel added.

Ever since the elections, he noted, the opposition has adopted a "coup mentality and resorted to illegitimate means to alter this equation, by force at times and through obstructing the institutions at others."

"Such methods have never succeeded in Lebanon," he stressed.

After meeting the president, Gemayel then traveled to Egypt.