Report: Gemayel Wants to Become March 14's Alternative Candidate
Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel is reportedly insisting on becoming the March 14 alliance's candidate for the presidency if the camp was able to agree with the rest of the country's factions on a compromise figure.
Gemayel wants to replace Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, a March 14 alliance source told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published on Thursday.
The March 14 source told al-Anbaa however that certain officials have informed Gemayel that he should receive the backing of centrist Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat first.
The camp made an initiative on Tuesday, saying it holds onto the candidacy of Geagea, but expressed the camp's “full readiness to discuss with the rest of the factions the name of a person who receives the backing of all the Lebanese and who is committed to the country's principles.”
The majority of the March 8 camp's officials have claimed that there should be an agreement on a compromise candidate before heading to the polls. They have boycotted parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a president in a clear message of rejection to Geagea's candidacy.
Geagea's rival, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has not officially announced that he was running for the polls, claiming there should be a compromise on him first.
The disagreements among the rival parties and the parliamentary blocs have left the country's top Christian post vacant.
President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May.
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