 In an attempt to reach an agreement over who will succeed President Emile Lahoud to Lebanon's top post, leaders of March 14 Forces held a meeting Friday in the house of former President Amin Gemayel. Talking following the meeting, Gemayel said: "We are living in a crisis where the national and constitutional life is passive because the presidency, which is supposed to be symbol to all Lebanese, is passive."
The meeting was attended by the country's top Christian leaders, including Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, MPs Ghassan Tueni, Nayla Mouawad, Butros Harb, George Adwan and former MPs, Ghattas Khoury, Gabriel Murr, Fares Soueid and Nassib Lahoud, who is viewed by many as a strong contender for the presidency.
| Lahoud to Lahoud, huh? Doesn't sound like a good idea to me. |
"The beginning of a solution for our crisis is through electing a new president, who can give back the presidency its true international and local value," Gemayel said. He added: "The positive thing about what is happening is that all political factions agree on the need for President Emile Lahoud to resign, but the problem lies in the way to topple Lahoud and who will replace him."
| At this point, it looks like the only ones who don't agree are Emile and Hezbollah. |
Asked whether the March 14 Forces were in contact with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, Gemayel said: "I personally spoke with Aoun on the phone yesterday in addition to sending a delegation headed by Karim Pakradouni to visit him over this issue." He added: "We will be in constant coordination with the FPM."
| Aoun doesn't seem really eager to give Emile the toss. I'm not sure why not... Let me rephrase that: I'm not sure how sordid the deal is. |
Gemayel also said that after consultations, March 14 Forces decided Lahoud could be ousted through securing a two-thirds majority in Parliament. However, Aoun, who is also a strong presidential candidate, told The Daily Star over the phone that he opposed ousting Lahoud in the way March 14 Forces were proposing. Aoun said: "If they think they can oust Lahoud through providing a majority of two thirds, we can arrange a mechanism to prevent them from having the two-third majority to topple the president. Where would they bring the two-thirds from, the moon?"
Tueni, who answered questions by the media following the meeting, also stressed the need to topple Lahoud, saying: "The prolongation of Lahoud's mandate was forced on us by a foreign country." Asked by The Daily Star about Hizbullah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's warning of using public demonstrations as a tool to topple Lahoud, Tueni said the March 14 Forces rejected any threats over this issue, and added: "Nobody wants to use the street as a tool, but if we go on demonstrations, they will be peaceful. We never used weapons in our demonstrations." |
