Jumblat refuses Franjieh as president, slams Aoun, says Geagea made him President

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has slammed Free Patriotic chief Jebran Bassil, accusing him, along with President Michel Aoun, of obstructing reforms, especially in the energy sector.

Jumblat also criticized Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and considered that Geagea has made it possible for Aoun to become President.

He said the latter easily accuses others of treason. "I do not dare to name a President, I am afraid I would be dubbed as a traitor," Jumblat stated, after Geagea had said days ago in a press conference that the parties that will prevent the opposition from electing a new sovereign president, would be traitors.

"I do not agree with the LF that the next president must be confrontational," Jumblat added. "The next president must be capable of managing the crisis, and must have an economic and political background, without being affiliated to a party," he went on to say, adding that he doesn't support the election of al-Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh as President.

He said that the opposition forces are still fragmented while Hezbollah and its allies can easily choose the President they want in the coming presidential poll.

Jumblat considered that the priority now is for the reforms in the energy and banking sectors over the political issues like Hezbollah's disarmament and the border demarcation, and that Lebanon cannot be neutral "as long as a beast called Israel exists."

Jumblat had met last week with a Hezbollah delegation in Clemenceau.