The President of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, condemned the performance of some political factions in the opposition regarding the presidential elections. He held them partially responsible for the potential vacuum in the presidency, asserting that "the main team responsible for the presidential vacancy is, of course, the resistance team that votes with a blank ballot and openly proclaims that its reason for this choice is the lack of consensus."
In an interview with MTV, he emphasized that he does not understand how one can reach consensus from nothing, adding that "those who truly want to achieve consensus should have contacted all parties three or four months before the presidential elections to inform them of their intentions." He made it clear that this is a matter of principle since they did not do what was necessary in pursuit of what they claim they want, not because they seek consensus with those factions, as they are simply the cause of the calamity in the country.
Geagea continued: "They say they will not attend the sessions or secure the quorum until consensus is reached. How can such consensus be achieved when communication lines are completely severed between the political sides in the country, with no communications occurring either under the table or above it? Thus, the resistance team, namely Hezbollah, the Free Patriotic Movement, and their allies, are making no effort toward consensus; they merely talk about it and nothing else. I reiterate that I say this to highlight the position of this team, not as an indication that if contacts were made, they might reach any positive result for the reasons I mentioned earlier."
He pointed out that "in addition to the resistance team, there is another team that bears partial responsibility for the vacancy. This responsibility is no longer secondary at all, especially as we have entered the last ten days of the constitutional deadline." Referring to the session attended where the candidate Michel Moawad was present, he noted that although some consider him a candidate of challenge, he practically has 44 votes in Parliament. However, he received only 42 votes due to the absence of two lawmakers who had significant reasons for their absence.
On the other hand, Geagea mentioned that "22 MPs burned their votes on slogans from here and expressions from there." He emphasized that if these 22 votes were added to Moawad's, he would have 66 votes, making it virtually impossible for anyone trying to obstruct the quorum in the second round of elections to succeed, given that there is now a candidate with 66 or 65 votes, which would impose reality.
Regarding the notion that a president cannot be elected without 86 votes, Geagea stated: "Theoretically, we need that amount of votes, but practically, if Michel Moawad had 66 votes today, the other team would no longer have the ability to obstruct the quorum indefinitely. They might disrupt one, two, or three rounds, but not more than that, as they would eventually have to go to elections. Therefore, those who burn their votes by giving them to a non-candidate or to all sorts of slogans are, through their actions, assisting those who seek to obstruct the presidential elections in succeeding in their endeavors."
Regarding the opposition's inability to unify and gather full support for Michel Moawad, Geagea noted, "This is the question we've been grappling with for nearly two months. We have done everything we can and attempted to engage with those 22 votes I mentioned earlier; however, unfortunately, we have not reached any outcome. They claim we chose Michel Moawad and want to force them to support him, but this claim is inaccurate. We sought to agree on a united name, but they do not want that and have put together a basket of names, insisting we exclusively choose one of them. We told them they are 13 MPs and suggested each of the other opposition factions propose three names, so we could see which name receives the most support among the opposition to adopt as our unified candidate; however, they categorically rejected that."
Geagea added: "I say what I say today, although I believe that 'niggle' will not get us anywhere, I want to present the facts as they are since we only have 10 days left before entering a vacuum. We fully understand the ambition of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement and their allies to reach it because they have not managed to agree on a candidate who could garner their support. Therefore, I would like to address the holders of the 22 votes, and until further notice, I do not doubt their intentions, but I do question their mode of action by stating that, knowingly or unknowingly, they are aiding Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement in obstructing the presidential elections, otherwise, if they do not want to vote for Michel Moawad, they should propose a practical solution to us. We, on our part, have put forward a candidate who meets what we believe to be the required specifications and has managed to gather 44 out of 66 votes in the opposition, which means he has two-thirds of the opposition's votes."
