The head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, confirmed that “what is happening today is not because of” the tyranny of the axis of opposition “, but rather because of the weakness of those who should have assumed their responsibilities and refuse to do so.”
He pointed out that “until this moment, two months of the constitutional deadline and two additional months of emptiness have passed, and no president has been elected because the opposition axis was unable to deliver the candidate it wanted, and therefore it is obstructing the elections. Frankly, this is not a democratic act, nor a political act, nor an honorable act, nor a patriotic act.” Rather, it is an extremely despicable act that strikes democracy, patriotism and Lebanon.”
And he stressed that “the crisis is intensifying day by day, and whoever bears its consequences is Hezbollah and its allies, i.e. the “axis of opposition” because they are obstructing the presidential elections,” noting that “the rescue is in the reach of hand,” and no one believes that there is a “Brumbo of the Century.” 21 “Because there are no more “Barmboys” at all. What matters most is that we need people who assume their responsibility. In this context, the Lebanese citizens who are burning daily from the fire of the crisis must ask the representative they voted for in his capacity as the owner of the parliamentary agency to vote in the presidential elections for my grandfather’s president. It restores the natural right to the position of the presidency of the republic.”
Geagea’s words came during the annual dinner held by the Aley Coordination Committee at the party’s general headquarters in Maarab, in the presence of: MPs Strida Geagea and Nazih Matta, former MP Anis Nassar, Secretary General Emile Moukarzel, Secretary General of the “Strong Republic” bloc Saeed Malik, Assistant Secretary for Regions Affairs Joseph Abou Jaoude, Assistant Secretary-General for Elections Affairs Jad Damian, Aley District Coordinator Tony Badr, Head of the Employers Authority Ziad Bejjani, Mayor of Bsous Municipality Kaiser Feghali, Mayor of Rechmaya Mansour Mubarak, Mayor of Al-Rajma Municipality Khairallah Khairallah, President of Aley Mayors Association Ziad Asfar, Former coordinators Saeed Al-Shartouni, Pierre Nassar, Kamal Khairallah and Jihad Matta, members of the Central Council: Jimmy Bassoussi, Fares Trad and Mark Saad, and a number of media and social actors.
He pointed out that “the other party is paralyzing the presidential elections because it wants a president who will be at its service” and declares that publicly. The best response to it came from His Beatitude Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, when he declared, “They say they want a president who will protect the back of the resistance.” We need a president who “protects the back of” Hezbollah, or do we want him to protect the back of the Lebanese? We need a president who protects the backs of all the Lebanese, because he protects the backs of the Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, Druze and all the components that live on the land of Lebanon, but they do not want that. At a time when the majority of the Lebanese have proven, on more than one occasion, that they do not want this project, then this is an attempt to impose it by force.
He explained that “the other party wants a president for itself, not a president for the Lebanese, and this is what it means when it says, “We want a president” who “travels” with him, as if we have no work but to relieve him, while most of what we want is to relieve the country and not the other team that is tiring itself and tiring us with it and “failing.” the land”, but since things got complicated for him and he believes that he will not be able to deliver the president who wants to, he deliberately disrupts the presidential elections.”
Geagea continued: “Let them choose the candidate they want and vote for him. When the opposition parties chose their candidate, Representative Michel Moawad, and decided to vote for him, none of them was confident that they would be able to secure a majority in his favour. We have done what must be done according to what the constitution, customs and proper behavior dictates, and in this context we have repeatedly stated following we were asked if we will disrupt the elections in the event that the “axis of opposition” manages, God forbid, to secure the majority for its candidate, and we have answered and we are also answering today that we are in this situation We can refrain from attending a session or two to see if we can rectify the situation and matters for us stand at this point and we will not disrupt the presidential elections even if the other party will be able to deliver its candidate because the right in this case lies with the deputies who voted in favor of this candidate and not On the candidate, and we are not at all ready to disrupt the presidential elections forever, even if we had no hope of changing the facts on the ground, while we see the other team that has so far disrupted ten electoral sessions. And it seems that he is pursuing this obstructionist approach more and more.
Geagea pointed out, “The current political situation in the country is very complex, but at the same time it is very simple. We are living in a bottomless crisis, and President Michel Aoun believed in one thing, which is that we are going to hell, the only place that has no bottom. No one thinks that the solution is impossible if it is on the political or economic level, considering that if the political decision exists, then the solution is known on the economic levels and does not need a group of geniuses to devise it, because four or five serious steps are enough to straighten things out, so we need a political decision center, and no We only need statesmen who “take seriously” and accept to take the required decisions for the establishment of an actual state that begins with serious reform.
He continued, “In the current state, we have two officials who have been ‘extremely caught’ in the position they occupy, and they belong to political currents different from ours. The first is Jan Al-Alia in the Tenders Department, who insisted that he is the head of this department, and therefore all tenders must pass through him, even if they tried. It is impossible to harass him and discourage him from carrying out his duties and “challenged him, and he responded to them with a challenge” and remained steadfast in his position, carrying out his duties until today he became the head of the Public Procurement Department. The second is an ordinary judge like the rest of the judges, I wish they would imitate his performance, called Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, who was assigned to investigate In the case of the port explosion, they put pressure on him with “all the pressures of the universe,” but he did not care and continued to perform his duties, “and they went down to threaten directly, but he laughed at us.”
And he added, “If we had a president of the republic, a prime minister, and ministers who enjoy these characteristics, we would have reached the moon, and restored the Lebanon that we know, but today we live in the best condition, so can anyone believe that the crisis only needs these solutions?”
And he added, “As for the third person who I would like to touch on his performance on this occasion and “fill out his position”, he is the army commander, General Joseph Aoun, who is “an army commander with a right and a truth” because he did not allow anyone to interfere in the military institution and acted fairly with everyone, just as he did not accept that Any Lebanese team encroaches on another.
Geagea stressed that “we need a president of the republic who will be president of the republic. As for those who say, “We do not want a defiant president,” we say to them: What we demand is not a matter of challenge at all. Rather, we seek an actual president of the republic, who is at the same distance from everyone on the individual level. His only concern is implementing the constitution and restoring the decision to the state. If the President of the Republic does not want to do that, then what does he do?
He continued, “The former President of the Republic used to declare publicly that ‘resistance’ is a necessity for Lebanon, and he used to sell the state’s decision and place it with others. In this case, how will the state be established?”
Geagea had started his speech by thanking the Aley Coordination Committee for the effort it made to organize this meeting in light of these difficult circumstances, “while each of us strives daily to fulfill his family responsibilities, putting this effort into ensuring a kind of continuity for the Coordinator.”
On the occasion, Geagea paid tribute to former MP Anis Nassar and Secretary-General Emile Moukarzel, and said, “The required human qualities are still the most important in any rescue march. A good society needs good people. If they are lost, it is not possible to reach any result, and the biggest evidence of that is what we have reached.” To him today in Lebanon.From this point of view, the human qualities that some people enjoy, regardless of the amount of their giving, stop me at length, although this matter does not apply to Nassar and Moukarzel, given that a good person who gives a little is much better than a bad one.” With the movement always left and right And day and night” and in the end this movement does not bear fruit, and I think everyone knows who I am talking regarding.”
And he continued, “But nations have morals, so when morals are lacking, whatever the amount of giving is, it will not achieve any result, while if it exists, whatever the amount of giving is, it will result in the end, and the region of Aaliyah is the greatest evidence.”
And as he thanked from the heart to all the attendees, the head of the forces affirmed, “If there were no virtuous, honorable, and brave men in this community, we would not have been able to continue. The scene in Aley is similar to the rest of the regions.”
He explained, “My utmost concern in these circumstances is the health condition of each of us, especially the possibility of admission to the hospital, so we must realize that the current confrontation will not be decided by who will win over the other, but by who will be able to withstand more than the other, on the background that the group that will be able to survive the most is Who will win, and the group that will remain is “for its members to be” supported “in any way” so that they can cross the desert we are in today, and never think that it is possible for any team to impose its will on others, as this concept has become a thing of the past. .
Representative Matta also delivered a speech, in which he pointed out that “the struggle is not new for the region of Aley, which has always carried the torch without shame or fear and in all circumstances, and is as always active with its people. It is also not new for us at all to commit the people of Aley to the reconciliation of the mountain that began with the late Patriarch Mar Bishara Boutros Sfeir, and followed up with His Excellency Representative Strida Geagea, and completed with you Hakeem, and she was accompanied with full commitment by Alia’s sons.
Matta thanked the Coordination Committee for its tireless work in the region, starting with the heads of the centers, passing through the offices of the successive Coordinators, all the way to the former coordinators, the current coordinator, and the large number of unknown soldiers who prefer to work in the shadows and are just as effective as those carrying partisan tasks, if not more.
As for the area coordinator, Tony Badr, he thanked in his speech all the comrades who worked and contributed to the success of this dinner, welcoming all the attendees.
He also stressed that the work is continuity, and had it not been for the efforts of the previous coordinators, we would not have been able to reach what we have reached in Aley.
