The head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, Talal Arslan, announced his candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections, confirming his candidacy for one of the Druze seats in Aley.
Arslan revealed, in a media interview, that the party will nominate and support the candidacy of former minister Marwan Khair al-Din in Hasbaya, former minister Wiam Wahhab in the Chouf, Tariq Daoud in the western Bekaa, and Nassib al-Gohari in Beirut II.
Arslan stressed that “former minister Saleh al-Gharib was not put forward as a candidate, contrary to what was circulated, and he holds some of the files entrusted with him, and what was said regarding a “veto” put by Democratic Party leader Walid Jumblatt on his candidacy was never true.”
He also pointed out that “President Nabih Berri initiated a request that former Minister Marwan Khair al-Din be a member of the Development and Liberation Bloc, and he agreed to the matter, and Jumblatt also blessed him.” He also indicated that “Jumblatt did not pledge not to nominate a second Druze to face us in Aley.”
Arslan said: “Our calculations confirm my victory for the Druze seat in Aley, and if any breach will be achieved by civil society, it will not be at our expense.”
Regarding the visit he paid to Jumblatt, away from the media, Arslan said: “I accepted Jumblatt’s invitation to dinner, and we did not discuss the issue of the Druze seat in Beirut’s second district, but the research included general political issues, in addition to the internal Druze issue, where it stressed the fortification of the Druze arena. To spare it the repercussions of the electoral fervor that we may witness in this election.”
Arslan stressed that he did not carry a message from Jumblatt to Hezbollah, nor did he convey a message from the party to him, pointing out that the relationship is good with the party, “which I advise him from the brother’s position to avoid the internal political snarls.”
Arslan added, “There are no flaws in the relationship with the Free Patriotic Movement, and we always communicate with the President of the Republic and with Representative Gibran Bassil, and my absence from the bloc’s meetings has no fundamental reasons, as my attendance at these meetings was always associated with important events.”
He continued, “The alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement in the Chouf and Aley is not yet settled and we are making contacts, especially with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, before naming our candidate in Baabda. Alliance”.
Arslan announced his support for MegaCenter, noting that “it is a need and its lack of justification, and it facilitates the election process and saves voters and candidates who will find themselves forced to exceed the expenditure ceiling specified by law.”
He said, “I do not like President Najib Mikati’s way of rotating the corners and the budget approved by the government is a disaster, and Minister Essam Sharaf El-Din, who represents us in the government, has opposed it, and who has a vision for an unconventional budget and a new view of the economic reality, which is raising the voice, but there is no life for those who call.”
He continued, “We need political reform, which is the entrance, and we must establish a strong central state instead of resorting to other countries to protect us, and the slogan of the uprising on October 17 was innocent and right, but partisan and diplomatic hands extended and distorted it.”
In response to a question, he said, “I did not transfer money abroad, and corruption in Lebanon has become part of the system, and therefore the system must be amended to eliminate it.”
Arslan revealed regarding a visit he made to Syria some time ago, “where I met President Bashar al-Assad, as well as former Minister Suleiman Franjieh, visits out of the personal friendship of which I am proud, knowing that I have never stopped visiting Damascus.”
As Arslan stressed that he would elect Berri for a new term following the parliamentary elections, he said, in response to a question regarding the presidential election: “Franjieh is a brother, and Basil is an ally, and I am not “mistaken” in the relationship between the two. It is too early to talk regarding the choice between two candidates for the presidency that affects him more. From a regional and international player.
Arslan concluded his speech regarding the historical political legacy that he bears, and said: “The burden is heavy, but in the school of Mir Majid we were brought up on the basis of ‘honesty is benji’.”
