LF Accuses FPM of Stirring Political Clashes to Postpone Elections

Lebanese Forces sources have accused the Free Patriotic Movement of stirring “political clashes” with the aim of postponing the May 15 parliamentary elections.

“The FPM remembered the issue of megacenters only two and a half months before the elections, and it did not mention it in 2018, which raises suspicions,” the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Saturday.

“The LF backs the megacenters idea because it boosts the voting turnout and this is in its interest, and it also lessens the burdens on citizens amid the current economic and financial crisis,” the sources pointed out.

The sources also noted that prior to the megacenters controversy, the FPM had “raised the issue of the sixteenth district and the prosecution of Maj. Gen. Imad Othman, which means that it is deliberately stirring political clashes in order to postpone the parliamentary elections.”

“The Strong Lebanon bloc is seeking to tell people that it is reformist on the eve of parliamentary elections, although it is non-reformist, seeing as it has not accepted the appointments mechanism law and the judiciary’s independence law,” the sources added.

“Therefore, the FPM has nothing to do with reform,” the LF sources charged.

Cabinet had this week dropped the megacenters plan, postponing it to 2026, but senior FPM sources have said that the Movement might seek parliament’s ruling on the issue in addition to other escalatory measures.