MP Murr: It is not realistic to destroy the country if you are not elected president
Gemayel and Murr reestablish political communication
MP Michel Murr reiterated his accusations against the Change and Reform bloc headed by MP Michel Aoun for obstructing the presidential elections.
“I have failed to convince the bloc’s MPs of the need to elect a president. This is why I have decided to create public pressure in this regard,” Murr told NBN Television.
“I asked the Change and Reform MPs why they were obstructing the presidential elections and pointed out that people will hold us, and not Speaker Nabih Berri, responsible,” he added.
He also said that the matter of Palestinian settlement in Lebanon is being used as a scare tactic. “Will obstructing the presidential elections prevent the settlement of Palestinians in Lebanon?” Murr asked.
Murr ruled out the chances of Aoun being elected president. “It is not realistic to destroy the country if you are not elected president.”
“A Christian does not have the right to obstruct the Arab initiative or to seek destabilization. I am ready to resign as an MP if the Metn MPs also resign, and if early legislative elections are held within a month,” Murr said.
He also expressed his regret for former President Amin Gemayel’s defeat in the 2007 Metn by-elections. “I voted for Camille Khoury, but my conscience was telling me, ‘You don’t have the right to elect anyone in Pierre Amin Gemayel’s place.’”
Murr called for the adoption of the 1960 caza-based electoral law with some amendments.
He also said that the Change and Reform bloc’s Shia allies want to pursue Lebanon’s interests, but are being “polite” with Aoun’s bloc.
“The US would accept a consensus president, and not a president from the opposition who would lead to the loss of its allies.”
He noted that he has always been a political independent “and will remain as such.” “I will not join the majority, and I still respect MP Michel Aoun. I did not seek to divide the bloc, and I have not asked anyone to leave,” he said.
“If joining the majority means insulting and offending Syria, then I won’t pass the test,” Murr said.
Murr said he was the first to nominate Aoun for the presidency, but that Army Commander General Michel Sleiman is still the consensus candidate.
“When Sleiman was suggested, the Change and Reform bloc agreed. But later on, some bloc members were imposing conditions on his candidacy, which is unacceptable,” he said.
“Elias Murr is not the candidate of any bloc. He only represents Michel Murr’s bloc in the Metn. The Syrians do not object to his appointment as minster, and this has nothing to do with my withdrawal from the bloc,” Murr said.
He also criticized the fuss made over the alleged mass graves in Halat and ruled out the outbreak of a civil war in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Second Vice President of the Kataeb Party Selim Al-Sayegh said that Kataeb President Amin Gemayel and MP Michel al-Murr, who recently announced his break with the opposition-aligned Change and Reform bloc, discussed the latest developments in the presidential elections in a phone conversation, adding that both parties paid special attention to the importance of creating “a new dynamic for activating the election process.”
Sayegh released a statement saying that communication between Gemayel and Murr never ceased on a personal level, noting that on the civil war commemoration of April 13, the eve of April 26, the date of the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon, the Kataeb agreed with all parties on historical truths which all Lebanese had always believed in, “regardless of tactical positioning and internal Lebanese politics.”
“As I said before, I again say that the Kataeb are always open to all political movements based on their principles to speed up the election of a president,” Sayegh said.