| It's certainly something to ponder... |
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
leader
Samir Geagea... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ...
announced that he is a "natural" candidate for presidency, vowing to withdraw Hizbullah
...
Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as
The Resistanceand purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
's forces from neighboring Syria if he was elected the next head of state.
"I am naturally a candidate for presidency since I am the head of the most popular Christian party in Leb according to polls," Geagea said in an interview on Al-Arabiya television that aired on Wednesday.
"It is only natural that my name is in the discussed list of nominees, but I am waiting for the right moment to announce my candidacy."
Geagea elaborated on his stance on the presidency: "Having a strong president in Leb is in everyone's interest. Such a leader that can restore the presidency's strength and glory, or else, the situation in Leb will remain the same, or even become worse. This is in not in any party's interest."
He continued: "We need a president that has a clear political agenda, and of course I will withdraw Hizbullah's fighters from Syria if I become president."
"We can do anything under the ceiling of the law and when we have a president that proposes things clearly, all factions will take his/her opinion into consideration. No one can ignore the president and the presidency's stances."
"This is why many are exerting all efforts to prevent electing a strong president," he considered.
The LF leader praised president Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
's "stances and strength," but considered that he "did not have the ability to act since he was a consensual head of state."
"He had to take the viewpoints of all parties into consideration," Geagea said. "Any consensual president cannot have a political agenda, regardless of the strength of his personality."
The Christian leader pointed out that there are around 10 votes in the parliament that can make the difference during the president's election.
"These are 10 centrist MPs and among them is (Progressive Socialist Party leader) MP Walid
WallyJumblat
...
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...'s parliamentary bloc and the independent deputies of (the northern city of) Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
," he detailed.
Asked about whether Jumblat would vote for him of for Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
leader MP
Michel Aoun...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
, Geagea said the Druze leader's decisions depend on many political considerations.
He also urged exerting all possible efforts to hold the presidential vote on time, rejecting any talks about vacuum.
Suleiman's six-year tenure ends in May 2014, but the constitutional period to elect a new head of state began on March 25.
Separately, Geagea assured that his party is not allied with Hizbullah, as they hold opposing political stances.
"There is a huge gap between us and Hizbullah and if the party was able to bridge this gap by changing its ideology, of course we would not mind allying with it," he stated.
"Our stance has always been clear; we have to communicate with Hizbullah to reach the desired outcome and any dialogue's basis must be the constitution firstly, and secondly the laws," he explained.
"But until now, Hizbullah has not taken dialogue seriously, and we boycotted the national dialogue sessions in 2012 because of the party's attitude," he said.
On the Lebanese Forces' relations with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
's al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement, he pointed out that the alliance remains strong under March 14's umbrella, despite the occasional tensed atmospheres that prevail while debating certain issues.
Geagea reiterated that the turbulent situation in the northern city of Tripoli and the border town of Arsal is caused by Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war.
"The party dragged Leb into Syria's turmoil and this provoked faction in the opposition to launch operations on Lebanese towns," he said.