BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called Tuesday on Lebanese to maintain hope in their country, as he expressed his belief in the possibility of forthcoming change.
“So many of the Lebanese people are desperate and think that there is no escape from the ongoing crisis,” Geagea told Lebanese expatriates in Saudi Arabia, as he stressed that “no one has the right to lose hope in our country.”
Despite the prevalent sense of “disgust, frustration and fatigue” among Lebanese citizens, there is no substitute to Lebanon as a home to its citizens, he said.
The LF chief expressed his belief that the country could be changed for the better, citing Health Minister Wael Abu Faour’s “great reforms” in the food safety sector as an example of the possibility of productive change.
Alluding to Free Patriotic Movement head Michel Aoun, Geagea said that “no one can claim they are Christian and work in the interests of Christians when at the same time they are disrupting the presidency.”
With Geagea representing the March 14 alliance and Aoun the March 8 coalition, the presidential election has been at a standstill since the end of former President Michel Sleiman’s term nearly seven months ago. With neither candidate thought to be able to garner a majority in a vote, Aoun and his allies in Hezbollah have boycotted Parliament’s electoral sessions, calling them pointless in the absence of a consensus candidate.
Geagea slammed Lebanon for making way for regional powers to interfere in its presidential elections.
According to the LF chief, the only way to curb regional influence would be through achieving an agreement between Christian parties first, and then the Lebanese in general, on a consensus presidential candidate.
Geagea also said that it was unlikely for parliamentary polls to directly follow the presidential vote, calling on the Lebanese to expedite a change in the ruling class to eliminate further corruption.
In comments made in the Lebanese Embassy in Saudi Arabia, Geagea hailed the kingdom for its continuous support for Lebanon.
Later Tuesday, Geagea meet with Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud.
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