Presidential Polls Adjourned again, Geagea Blames Hizbullah
Speaker Nabih Berri postponed on Wednesday the 23rd presidential electoral session after MPs boycotted it, causing lack of quorum.
The session was adjourned to June 3.
Lebanon has been without a president since May last year when the six-year term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.
Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise presidential candidate have thwarted the polls.
The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc of Hizbullah and the Change and Reform bloc of MP Michel Aoun in addition to other blocs in the March 8 alliance have been boycotting the elections.
Following the postponement of the session, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said during a press conference he held in Maarab that “the one-year battle on the presidency proves it is one of the strongest posts in the republic.”
The rivalry between Geagea and Aoun, two presidential candidates, is partly to be blamed for the vacuum at Baabda Palace.
Though their parties are holding talks, they have not yet agreed on a solution for the presidential deadlock.
The LF chief blamed Hizbullah for the vacuum at the country's top Christian post, saying the party has been insisting on backing a single candidate, in reference to Aoun, and not making compromises.
“Hizbullah's top priority is the region's crisis and not Lebanon,” he said.
“The failure of the Christians to agree on a candidate does not provide an excuse for Hizbullah to continue its boycott of sessions,” said Geagea.
He expressed pride in the achievements made by the dialogue between the LF and Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, hoping that their document of intentions would be released soon.
“The dialogue will not fail,” Geagea stressed. But he expressed regret that the two parties have not yet been able to reach a common understanding on the presidential polls.
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