Samir Geagea
December 11: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea spoke to a delegation from the People’s College in Jbeil.
The past days revealed a lot of facts about Lebanese politics. Every Lebanese citizen should read very well what happened and what is happening in order to determine his stance. Each and every one of us should keep his eyes on the politicians in order to see who is taking the country toward the right path, and who is – intentionally or unintentionally – taking the country toward further chaos.
The past two weeks were among the hardest as we joined our days with our nights. We cannot accept the presidential crisis. The only possible solutions are very painful. Who had imagined that we would accept a constitutional amendment? No one imagined this, but when we saw that a presidential vacuum is a very dangerous issue, and when we were sure that there are negative intentions toward Lebanon and [there is] a decision to keep this vacuum ongoing, we were pushed to take any steps that might hinder any side seeking to immobilize the establishment of the state. The step to amend the constitution was a bitter pill which we accepted to swallow in order to avoid the constitutional void and what it carries.
We went toward a solution that was unacceptable for us in the beginning. Suddenly, after all these steps and sacrifices and pain that we offered, we were astounded to see the other camp – which has been praising General Sleiman for two years – with two colors, two faces and two tongues. They started fabricating pretexts and excuses in order to postpone the elections. We thought that they were doing this to improve their conditions in the negotiations and find new gains, but today we have become certain that they do not want presidential elections, and maybe they don’t want the republic itself. What do they want?
On the one hand, they call for reaching an agreement over the mechanism to amend the constitution, knowing that this mechanism is clear and known. On the other hand, they say that the government is illegitimate, although they recognized some of its resolutions such as the appointments of the Foreign Ministry and other appointments in the hospitals. They also participated in the Metn elections and recognized the legitimacy of the government. The elected deputy agreed to participate in the parliament’s session. How would that be?
Let us suppose that they do not want to recognize the legitimacy of the government, it is okay; when a new government is formed, all its resolutions will be introduced once again and they might or might not be reexamined. All that is going on are pretexts, not real reasons. If they have such reasons, let us resolve them the way I suggested, because they know very well that the resignation of the government prior to the constitutional amendment means that it won’t be able to amend the constitution. Their scheme has become clear, especially since once this government amends and signs the constitution, it will be resigned by default, which is shortly after electing Sleiman as a president.
All this shows the implied intentions of the other camp to prevent the elections. The Lebanese have been waiting for so long for the time when they will be capable of electing a real president after 17 years of torture and oppression… One of the factions says that its objection [to the elections] is aimed at strengthening the authorities and position of the president. I want to ask the person who wants to bolster the authorities of the president: How does he [Michel Aoun] accept to cut his term from six to two years? Is this aimed at bolstering the authorities of the president or at keeping the chances open for him [Aoun] to reach the presidency? Can the president’s status be bolstered by forcing him to accept the understanding with Hezbollah? Can his status be bolstered though seeking to give Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and Syria’s allies a large portion in the new cabinet?