WikiLeaks: Geagea Backed Lahoud, Harb, Rizk for Presidency in 2007

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea had reportedly backed Nassib Lahoud, Butros Harb and Charles Rizk “as a last resort” for the presidency.

According to a WikiLeaks cable dated November 8, 2007 published by al-Akhbar daily on Wednesday, Geagea told then U.S. ambassador Jeffrey Feltman that the candidates he backed for the presidency are Lahoud, Harb and Rizk “as a last resort.”

The cable said that Geagea rejected a French initiative asking former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir to propose a list of five possible candidates, fearing that such a move would bring a “weak president who would yield to pressure from Hizbullah and Syria.”

The LF leader told Feltman that the March 14 coalition would elect a president in the parliament with majority vote of half-plus-one.

However, according to the cable, Geagea warned that such a move by the former parliamentary majority would lead to a clash with Hizbullah which would then control most parts of the country.