Politicians Express Support for Conducting Municipal Elections
Lebanese politicians continue to give momentum for conducting the municipal elections on time in light of the failure to hold the presidential elections to end the almost 22-month vacuum.
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea stressed on Saturday that his party supports holding the municipal elections on time and that it is unlikely that they will be postponed.
Geagea told As Safir daily that the Lebanese Forces supports conducting the municipal and mayoral elections on time and that it is enthusiastic about it “first because we have been deprived for a while from holding democratic entitlements, secondly because we have a great belief in the significance and role of local authorities.”
He ruled out the possibility of postponing the polls and said: “There is no need for that not at the secuirty nor at the political levels.”
For his part, Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun said: “The Free Patriotic Movemnet will wage the elections side by side with the Lebanese Forces, the allies and political factions.”
Democratic Gathering chief MP Walid Jumblat told the daily that “the municipal elections is a misfortune that befell on us. It is no longer possible for us to do anything.”
Highlighting the failure of political factions to elect a head of state and despite that, they gather efforts to hold the municipal polls Jumblat said: “There is a necesaary maturity called the municipal elections, but it seems we are violating the norms as there are no presidential or paralimenatry elections, and despite that we take the easy way out, which is weird.”
The vacuum at the top state post has raised questions in whether the municipal elections, set for May, will be held on time.
Ealier, Speaker Nabih Berri and the al-Mustaqbal Movement had expressed support to staging the election on their scheduled time.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when 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.
In February, Mashnouq announced the dates on which the municipal and mayoral elections will be held in the various Lebanese regions
Source: Naharnet
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