Lebanese Forces Mass Can Not Be Ignored – Aoun’s Popularity Has Decreased
Change and Reform bloc MP Salim Selhab said that party leader MP Michel Aoun’s popularity had decreased. He said that the latest Lebanese Forces event in September proved the Lebanese Forces organizational capacity, adding that the Lebanese Forces popularity surprised not only the Free Patriotic Movement but all politicians in Lebanon, without any exceptions. He said that what the Fouad Chehab Stadium, where the LF event in September was held, had witnessed was a truth that no one could deny or ignore.
In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa on Thursday, Selhab said that the final meeting between Lebanese Forces and MP Michel al-Murr was an “electoral maneuver,” designed by Murr to be seen as a clear message to all Metn leaders that “he was equally distant from everybody in Metn, and could ally with whoever he sees suitable for reinforcing his leadership in Metn.” He said that despite rumors that the LF-Murr meeting could lead to a possible alliance in the coming parliamentary elections, relations between the two sides would remain incomplete until the “largest voter,” the Kataeb Party, determined its position since if had achieved half the number of votes facing FPM-Murr-Tashnak alliance.
Selhab also said that despite the atmosphere of dialogue and reconciliation in the country, political stagnation ruled and there had been no practical progress on actual communication between those who were reconciling with each other. This stagnation, he said, can be tied to awaiting the results of Christian reconciliation, “especially the Maronite one, which will be the basis of reinforcing all reconciliation, since the Christian voter will determine the parliamentary majority, while there is no real competition in Sunni, Shia, and Druze regions.”
Selhab said that Christian reconciliation was close at hand, but would not produce any new electoral alliances. Selhab called for giving President Michel Sleiman the principle role in sponsoring Christian reconciliation. He said that everyone had requested that Bkirki be included in the reconciliation. However, he said Bkirki should not sponsor the reconciliation since it had failed to resolve political crises in the past.