Franjieh Warns against Street Protests, Says he Won’t Abolish Himself
Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh has warned that he would head to parliament to attend a session for the election of a president if the supporters of his rival Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun resorted to street protests.
“If Aoun wants to change the rules of the democratic game on the presidential elections by resorting to the street, then … the option of heading to parliament for the electoral session” will be on the table, Franjieh said in remarks published on Friday.
Franjieh has been boycotting parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a president along with Aoun’s bloc and Hizbullah despite being a candidate and being backed by al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri who leads the March 14 alliance.
Aoun, on the other hand, is supported by the majority of the March 8 coalition and the Lebanese Forces that is allied with Hariri.
His Change and Reform bloc warned earlier this week that Aoun is mulling to call on his supporters to resort to street protests to press for the demand to elect him as president.
He claims that he represents the majority of Christians particularly after receiving the support of LF chief Samir Geagea.
Asked whether he preferred a centrist to reach Baabda Palace, the Marada chief said that he would back Aoun for the presidency yet he would not eliminate himself by meeting the FPM leader’s request to withdraw from the presidential race.
Franjieh told al-Joumhouria daily that Hizbullah neither asked him to withdraw in Aoun’s favor nor to remain a candidate.
“Even if Hizbullah asked me to pull out of the race, I would not do it and I would not abolish myself,” he said.
Baabda Palace has been vacant since May 2014. The rival parliamentary blocs have failed to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman as a result of their differences.
Franjieh, who is a member of the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition, reiterated that he has not made commitments to Hariri or anyone else because of the Mustaqbal chief’s support for his candidacy.
The lawmaker told the newspaper that he has agreed with Hariri on general issues that would be subjected to nationwide consensus if he were elected president.
Franjieh stressed that his election would be a victory for the March 8 alliance but not a loss for March 14.
However, he expressed fear that Aoun would upset the opportunity to bring a March 8 candidate to the country’s top Christian post.
G.K.
D.A.
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