Member of the "Renewal" bloc, MP Ashraf Rifi, rejected any compromise regarding the presidential file, stating, "We will accept only a sovereign, reformist rescue president and will reject any gray president or one from the other side, as we believe that rescuing Lebanon requires a president who meets the specifications we uphold." Rifi, who met with the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, in Maarab, in the presence of member of the Strong Republic bloc, MP Eli Khoury, and assistant secretary-general for electoral affairs, Jad Demian, emphasized the continuation of opposing any candidate linked to the resistance axis out of respect for the country, its citizens, and its future. He added, "No one can intimidate us, as we have no interests but a national commitment and conviction."
He also addressed the issue of "numbers" being discussed, considering that "national partnership does not depend on numbers as it is a pluralistic and qualitative Lebanese partnership. We have 'stopped counting' since the beginning of the late president Rafik Hariri's term." Consequently, Rifi viewed that "any discussions regarding the proportion of Christians in Lebanon are unacceptable."
In response to a question about the potential of the "Renewal" bloc securing the quorum to elect a president from the resistance axis, he answered, "We are not a charity to secure quorum for the other team; on the contrary, we will obstruct it because we will not allow history to record that we were 'foolish' or that our children do not forgive us. It is worth recalling that this team obstructed the quorum in the previous 11 sessions and left after the first round."
He continued, "We will use any democratic means to prevent the election of any candidate affiliated with this axis after we have experienced it over the past six years, which led us to hell. The country can no longer bear further sinking after the collapse of all its institutions, sectors, and its national currency, along with the Lebanese people's inability to secure even the basic necessities of life."
Rifi, who dismissed the "possibility of the other team securing 65 votes," stated that if they could do so, they would have called for an electoral session. He reiterated that "we are steadfast in our positions that serve the country's interest and contribute to extricating it from this abyss through a rescue president, who is neither corrupt nor submissive to the Iranian regime." He added, "The Iranian project is nearing collapse, but we salute its heroic people who are rising against the mullahs' regime. Here we ask 'Hezbollah,' where do you take the people after you ignited sectarian conflict and kept them in a historical illusion? This ideological system is unacceptable Islamically. What did you gain from dragging the youth and causing their deaths in the Syrian war? Did you contribute to saving Syria? And what remains of it?"
