Head of Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea at a press conference in Maarab in May 2019. (Credit: Aldo Ayoub/AFP/LF File)
BEIRUT — Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday said that the day President Michel Aoun's term ends on Oct. 31 is "a day for sadness and not for celebration considering the situation we are in."
In an interview with Al Jadeed, Geagea also said that he has banned his party members from participating in any celebration during that day.
On Sunday, the Free Patriotic Movement, which Aoun founded, is set to celebrate the end of the President's six-year term during which Aoun is expected to deliver a speech.
Geagea also described what happened during Monday's parliamentary session to elect the next president — in which no president was elected for the fourth time — a "real tragedy, because we still have a few days to elect a president."
During the session, 114 MPs participated in the first round of voting. Thirty-nine MPs voted for Zgharta MP Michel Moawad, who had received 42 votes in the previous third electoral session; 50 voted blank; 10 voted for professor Issam Khalifeh, 13 voted for "the new Lebanon," and two ballots were canceled. A quorum was lost later in the session after MPs withdrew prior to the second voting period, which would usually require a simple majority and two-thirds quorum to elect the next president.
The head of the Lebanese Forces also said that after Aoun's term ends on Sunday, his party "and their allies will not give up the candidacy of MP Michel Mouawad," adding that "before a serious alternative candidate gets presented, who does the same work as Mouawad does, we will not accept anyone."
By the end of the session, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri suggested Thursday as the new date for electing a new president but added that he will confirm this date later on.