Geagea Says Aoun and Hariri to Protect Gulf Ties, Rejects Proportional Representation

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed Monday that President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri will do everything needed to prevent any deviation from the Arab and Gulf stances at the upcoming Arab Summit in Jordan.

“President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who will represent entire Lebanon at the Arab Summit, will take into consideration the interests of the Lebanese people and the higher interest of the Lebanese state,” Geagea said in an interview with LF's website.

“They will do everything needed to prevent a new deviation from the Arab and Gulf stances, given the common ties and interests between Lebanon and the Gulf states,” he added.

“They will spare no effort to put Lebanon's higher interest before any other interest,” the LF leader reassured.

He noted that the president and the premier do not represent “any group or camp at the Arab Summit, but rather all Lebanese.”

“They will not let the Lebanese people pay a very hefty price for the stances of a certain Lebanese group that are not compatible with the constitution, the principle of the state, or the higher Lebanese interest,” Geagea added.

Turning to the issue of the electoral law, the LF leader said his party rejects a law fully based on the proportional representation system.

“Regardless of whether it is based on Lebanon as a single electorate or on 13 or 15 electorates, it is equivalent to numerical democracy, which contradicts with the spirit of the Taef Accord, the National Pact and coexistence in Lebanon,” Geagea warned.

“We are rejecting proportional representation based on this explanation... The objective behind promoting a law fully based on proportional representation is the implementation of a veiled numerical democracy,” he cautioned, referring to a perceived threat to Lebanon's so-called consensus democracy system, which aims to prevent the domination of the larger religious communities in the political process.

Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but al-Mustaqbal Movement and Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat have both voiced reservations.

Mustaqbal has argued that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds while Jumblat has warned that such an electoral system would “marginalize” the minority Druze community whose presence is concentrated in the Chouf and Aley areas.

The political parties are meanwhile discussing a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.