Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, reiterated his rejection of dialogue, considering it a waste of time and a tragedy. In an interview with the "Akhbar Al-Youm" agency, Geagea asked, "Why doesn't the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri invite an open session for multiple rounds to elect a President of the Republic, if his intentions are genuine, instead of holding a dialogue that lasts a maximum of seven days before heading to that session?" He added, "As for what they call 'dialogue', it is nothing but a waste of time and goes against the constitution and custom, and everything that is generally accepted."
In this context, Geagea reminded that since the beginning of the constitutional deadlines for the presidential election, all parties in Lebanon have engaged in discussions with each other, whether at a bilateral or trilateral level, and it can be said that hundreds of meetings have been held among various parliamentary blocs. Thus, if no results were reached through those meetings, which had effective discussions, can results be reached when dialogue includes more than 50 figures in Parliament, especially since the purpose of the dialogue is to attempt to agree on a name for the presidency?
Geagea indicated that the Lebanese Forces have engaged in private discussions with all concerned parties in order to seek a solution to the presidential predicament, and they were unable to do so. He stated, "The main reason is that the resistance axis has only one candidate and does not move away from it." In response to a question, he regretted that some people repeatedly echo the idea of dialogue without understanding what they are talking about. He pointed out that "the French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, during his recent visit to Lebanon, presented a single proposal: to skip the nominations of former ministers Sleiman Frangieh and Jihad Azour and move toward a third option without naming individuals, especially in light of the June 14 session when the resistance team amassed all its forces but only achieved 51 votes for its candidate, while the opposition secured agreements left and right to achieve 59 votes for Azour."
Geagea noted that all parties responded positively to this proposal, except for the resistance team, which completely rejected the third option. Here, Geagea asked, "On what basis does the resistance team call for dialogue after it rejected the third option as soon as it was proposed and before reaching the names?" He stated, "What we have been warning against for more than eight months has become clear today: dialogue is a distraction, even a tragedy, to waste more time and squander efforts."
When asked, "Yesterday you affirmed your commitment to Azour's nomination and urged neutral deputies to support this nomination. Doesn’t this also constitute a rejection of the third option?" Geagea replied, "We confirmed our support for Jihad Azour after the other team rejected the third option. However, if this team realizes we have reached an impasse and supports moving towards the third option, then we can discuss it further. In principle, we are ready to talk, but the other team has completely closed the door."
Geagea continued, "In any case, Azour is the third option because he has never belonged to any party and has had no political stance, thus meeting the criteria for a third option." Regarding whether the Free Patriotic Movement is also committed to Azour's nomination, Geagea stated, "The problem is that Hezbollah rejects the third option, and as long as this option is not on the table, the Free Patriotic Movement remains attached to Azour based on its public stance."
On another note, when commenting on accusations against the Lebanese Forces of escalating tensions between Ain Ebel and the neighboring villages following an incident that occurred on the 11th during the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Elias Al-Hassruni, Geagea dismissed these accusations, saying: "They are right; the 'Lebanese Forces' killed Elias Al-Hassruni and escalated tensions," revealing, "We have been informed by the relevant security agencies two days ago that they can no longer continue the investigation. This alone is enough to indicate the responsible party, in addition to all the evidence and suspicions pointing towards Hezbollah."
