Adwan: Geagea Can't Compel Nominees to Withdraw, Berri Patriotic Par Excellence

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea is willing to compete with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun for the presidency but he cannot compel the other candidates to withdraw from the race, LF bloc MP George Adwan has announced.

Geagea “is ready to contend with General Aoun for the presidential post, but we can't oblige others to refrain from nominating themselves,” Adwan said in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper to be published Monday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP “Walid Jumblat's rejection of Aoun's proposal has prompted the parliamentary blocs to disregard the suggestion,” Adwan added.

Aoun had on Wednesday announced his willingness to attend a parliamentary session aimed at electing a new president if political forces pledge to limit the voting process to him and Geagea.

He accused some political forces of “maneuvering” in order to elect a third candidate other than him and the LF leader.

Aoun's proposal was swiftly dismissed by Jumblat, who has nominated his bloc's member Henri Helou as a centrist candidate.

“I respect his opinion but democratic competition is our right,” Jumblat tweeted in response to a citizen's question about Aoun's suggestion.

In his remarks to al-Liwaa, Adwan praised Jumblat and Speaker Nabih Berri, saying “they're not only supporting a settlement to resolve the presidential crisis but also exerting efforts to secure the election of a president.”

“Those who are impeding the election of a president are Michel Aoun and Hizbullah, and Aoun's precondition that others must not nominate themselves means that he will continue to block sessions aimed at electing a president,” Adwan added.

Commenting on remarks by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, who has slammed political forces for failing to elect a president, the MP said the patriarch's statement “would have produced positive results had it been addressed to a specific party.”

“Generalization served the parties obstructing the election of a president and it is not right to compare those who are attending the sessions and making initiatives to those who are obstructing,” Adwan went on to say.

He noted that Hizbullah chief “Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's (recent) nomination of Michel Aoun has stripped him of the consensual candidate label and opened the door for dialogue over a compromise candidate.”

In response to a question, Adwan said “there is more than political flirtation between us and Speaker Nabih Berri, as he is patriotic par excellence.”

“He respects the National Pact of coexistence, he rejected an extension of the parliament's term without the Christian partner and he rejected interference in the Syrian crisis,” Adwan explained.

As for the electoral law, the MP noted that the LF bloc “will vote in favor of the hybrid law, alongside independents and the blocs of al-Mustaqbal and Jumblat.”

Separately, Adwan stressed that the LF is against the “arming and training” of vigilante groups to protect Lebanese towns and villages against possible jihadist attacks, pointing out that “Christians and Muslims can only be protected through the state and the army.”

Y.R.