Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT – Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea said after a meeting with the newly elected LF Members of Parliament on Thursday that “the outcome of the elections was resounding, which is the loss of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement.” Geagea added that he would not vote for current Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for another term in the speaker’s chair.
Here’s what we know:
• The majority of Parliament seats does “not necessarily belong to a particular party,” but the majority bloc produced by the elections “agree on the main points, namely sovereignty, the presence of weapons outside the Lebanese army, and the corruption issue,” he said.
• He also took a shot at the LF’s chief rival on the Christian scene, saying, “The FPM is full of lies, distortion, and deception…If I were in Bassil's place, I would have chosen a place on the 17th floor underground to live in.”
• On the topic of electing a Parliament Speaker, Geagea noted that his party “has very clear specifications for the Parliament Speaker that do not apply to [Nabih] Berri.”
• Any serious candidate must pledge to implement electronic voting and not close the Parliament under any circumstances “so we will not vote for Berri,” he added.
• Holding the elections was not easy, he said, “amid the difficult conditions we are living in, and some Foreign Ministry staff tried to obstruct the expatriate vote.”
• “Starting next Sunday, we [opposition and independent MPs] have all become responsible, and responsibility cannot be evaded. We must not adopt the logic of ‘they did not let us,’” he concluded.