Rival alliances to reveal final electoral lists this weekend
Electoral lists across Lebanon are expected to be completed during the weekend, two weeks ahead the parliamentary polls that will be held on June 7. The members of an electoral list that will face MP Michel Aoun”s ticket in the Kesrouan district visited the Maronite patriarch on Friday. The list includes former MPs Mansour Bon, Farid Haykal Khazen and Fares Boueiz, in addition to Carlos Edde and Sejaan Qazzi.
Addressing reporters following the meeting with Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, Boueiz said: "We presented to the patriarch the Kesrouan-Ftouh alliance list," adding that a ceremony and a news conference would be held in the next two days to officially announce the list. News reports earlier in the day had predicted a formal announcement on Friday.
Edde, who has issued repeated challenges to Aoun to engage in a electoral debate, said that the list "supports Lebanon”s diversity and unity."
Qazzi issued a warning that Hizbullah would "govern the country" in the event of a victory by the parliamentary minority, and said that Sfeir "rejected the Third Republic," a reference to Aoun”s campaign slogan.
Meanwhile, former MP Camille Ziadeh, the vice president of the Democratic Renewal Movement, withdrew from the electoral race in Kesrouan on Friday. In a statement, Ziadeh criticized "the way alliances were formed," adding that the electoral battle in Kesrouan "lost its political meaning."
In other developments, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea met on Friday with March 14 Forces” candidates in Beirut I district. In remarks after the meeting, MP Michel Pharaon announced that the March 14 list in Beirut I district was completed after the participation of MP Serge Tor Sarkissian. The list includes, in addition to Pharaon and Tor Sarkissian, Minister of State Jean Hogassapian, Nayla Tueni and Nadim Gemayel.
The March 14 Forces are preparing to hold a general meeting early next week after resolving problems facing the formation of the coalition”s lists across the country.
Sources in the March 14 Forces” general secretariat quoted by Al-Hayat newspaper on Friday said that there was an urgent need to hold the general conference. The sources added that the meeting would mainly discuss recent speeches by Hizbullah”s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Also Sunday, the Free Patriotic Movement will hold a rally in the area of Hadath, according to the Central News Agency. Aoun will address the crowds during the event.
Hariri will head to the town of Mukhtara on Sunday to attend the announcement of the March 14 Forces” Chouf list by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt.
In separate developments, Hizbullah official Nawaf Musawi reiterated on Friday Hizbullah”s stance that the opposition was capable of ruling Lebanon.
Musawi, who is running in parliamentary elections in Tyre, said in an interview with pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily that the "opposition is really capable of governing Lebanon."