Alain Aoun Suggests Early Polls if Government Fails

MP Alain Aoun of the Strong Lebanon bloc has suggested going to early parliamentary elections should the new government fail to halt the economic and financial deterioration.

“First, the deterioration in Lebanon should be halted and then recovery measures should begin,” Aoun said in a TV interview, warning that “the failure of the rescue process would affect entire Lebanon.”

“The first phase requires foreign assistance, but we can’t go to economic conditions that would blow up the social situation,” the lawmaker added, in reference to any austerity measures that might be demanded by international financial organizations.

Calling for the privatization of the electricity sector, Aoun said he has a feeling that the “invisible hand” that is impeding power generation in Lebanon is “an oil cartel.”

Asked whether he might run for the presidency of the Free Patriotic Movement, the lawmaker said “everything is possible.”

He also underlined that “should the current government fail, the only solution is to go to early parliamentary elections to produce a new political situation, on the condition that the people accept it.”

Aoun also noted that Hassan Diab’s government is the “last chance government” prior to “elections that produce a new political class.”