Number of candidates in elections reaches 270
Hariri says vote will be “crucial” as siniora stresses need to rise above bickering
Lebanon”s political camps are finalizing their electoral lists ahead of the April 7 deadline imposed by the Interior Ministry, which announced Thursday that the number of candidates has reached 270.
Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri said Thursday that the June parliamentary elections would be "fateful," adding that they would reinforce Lebanon”s democratic principles.
In a speech delivered during the opening of the 17th Arab Economic Forum in Beirut, Hariri said: "I believe that these elections are fateful, because we, as Lebanese, will stress that democracy is the basis of rule in Lebanon and that the people is the basis of all authorities."
"These elections are also crucial for us, as politicians, because we regularly ask the Lebanese to renew their trust in us, based on a program that seeks to provide the citizens with decent living conditions in a free, sovereign and stable state," the head of the Future Movement added.
Hariri also said that the March 14 forces would soon announce a comprehensive socioeconomic program.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora stressed on Thursday the need to rise above political bickering and find the means to settle the country”s pending issues.
During the inauguration of several development projects in Tripoli, Siniora said: "Lebanon does not have time to waste; stalling and political bickering have led the country to a brink."
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry issued a statement, saying the total number of candidates up to Thursday reached 270. The ministry added that it received 58 new candidacies on Thursday, including Bechara Merhej for Beirut”s third district, Abbas Hachem for Jbeil district, Nadim Gemayel for Beirut”s first district, Pierre Achkar for the Metn district, Farid Haikal Khazen for Keserouan, Fares Soueid for Jbeil, Assem Qanso for Baalbek-Hermel, as well as dozens of other candidates.
Sources in the opposition quoted by the Central News Agency (CNA) Thursday said that a meeting would be held between Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday to discuss the opposition”s final electoral lists.
The sources added that the bilateral meeting would be followed by a meeting between Nasrallah, Berri, Aoun and former Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh to finalize the lists.
But other sources in the opposition quoted by the CNA said that meetings that group different opposition leaders would only be held after the finalization of lists, in order to avoid any disagreements among the participants.
The CNA also said that a meeting would be held soon between former President Amin Gemayel, Hariri, head of the Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblatt and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.
Sources in the majority told the CNA that during a planned election rally on Sunday at BIEL, the Future Movement would only announce its electoral program, but would not tackle the names of its candidates.
Orthodox candidate for Beirut”s first district Nayla Tueni said Thursday that "everyone has the right to express their views in the elections, but attacking the martyrs is not acceptable."
Tueni”s comments came in response to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who said earlier this week that Nayla”s father, late journalist and MP Gibran, had "inconsistent positions."
"Things are very clear now; there are two different political projects and the Lebanese should choose the project they want," Tueni said during a gathering in Achrafieh. "This is a fateful battle, so we must be ready."
Tueni also said that if she won in the elections, she would defend women”s right, the detainees in Syrian prisons, as well as other issues.
Also on Thursday, the People”s Movement announced its candidates for Beirut”s third district, including Ibrahim Halabi, who would run for the Sunni seat, and Najah Wakim for the Orthodox seat.
In a news conference held on Thursday, Wakim said that the 1960 electoral law adopted during the Doha Conference last year increased "confessional and sectarian divisions."
"This has put the country before two possibilities: the opposition winning the majority by a slight margin and forming a national unity cabinet, or the March 14 alliance winning by a slight margin and monopolizing the governing process," Wakim said, adding that in both cases "a crisis will immediately take hold after the elections."
In a separate development, Sidon MP Osama Saad said Thursday that Siniora was "a main partner in the political path that led to a serious deterioration in the Lebanese economic and social situations."
In a radio interview, Saad criticized Siniora”s possible candidacy for the June elections, saying that the ruling majority was using "electoral money and confessional provocation to compensate for the weakness of their electoral program."
Saad added that he would submit his candidacy in the coming hours and expressed his confidence in the "loyalty of Sidon citizens."