Abdo sends warning to March 14
Former Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Johnny Abdo told the Voice of Lebanon radio station on Saturday that he would not run as a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. He added “despite my support for the principles of the March 14 alliance, no one can make a decision for me.”
He said he feared the alliance might have fallen into the trap of ‘political weight’ and become preoccupied with its popularity.
Abdo noted Democratic Gathering bloc leader MP Walid Jumblatt was unlikely to forge an alliance with the March 8 alliance because he said Jumblatt knew he would not be considered one of its top leaders while his place was reserved within the March 14 coalition.
“Where Jumblatt exists, the majority exists,” he stated.
The former intelligence chief said the elections were not decisive for individual candidates but for Lebanon. He also stated the major issue was not competing in the elections against Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun or any other person, but against a certain project.
He confirmed that the elections would not be delayed or postponed, but warned that there were some attempts to prevent the March 14 alliance from preparing appropriately for the elections.
Abdo said the outcome of the elections remained unknown because each party was announcing its own victory. He also noted the elections should uphold the country’s interests and that Lebanon should be the sole winner.
“The March 8 alliance is embarrassed to announce its project, which does not embody the state’s project, and this will definitely make it lose the elections. For that reason, that coalition changed the name of its projects to those of the opposition’s electoral project,” he said.
He added threats and security obsessions would increase in the lead up to the elections and noted “some have attempted to convince us that we should no longer raise the issue of the kidnapping of Joseph Sader, after they convinced his family.”
He said that the position of President Michel Sleiman might be affected if the opposition were to win the elections.
“General Aoun is frightening the people away from the Sunnis and he does not want to support Lebanon, but the March 8 alliance,” he said.
Abdo also said the Tashnaq party’s decision was not taken domestically but through an international committee. He noted that the presidency of the committee was currently in Iran and Syria, and the negotiations that took place in Lebanon “were a kind of referendum.”
He said Speaker Nabih Berri would be re-elected after the elections, despite the objection of some within the March 8 alliance.
“No one should attack Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir because he is Lebanon’s guarantor in confronting major challenges,” he concluded.