Geagea accuses Hezbollah and FPM of 'sabotaging' Joseph Aoun's candidacy

The head of the Lebanese Forces (LF), Samir Geagea, denounced on Friday evening the opposition from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the "resistance axis," formed by Hezbollah and its allies, to the election of the army's commander, Joseph Aoun, to the presidency. This stance comes ahead of a scheduled electoral session on Jan. 9, and Geagea accused them of seeking to "sabotage" his candidacy.

"The resistance axis does not want Joseph Aoun, and consequently, the FPM does not want him either. They plan to sabotage his candidacy for the presidency," Geagea stated during the annual dinner of the LF office in Aley, held in Maarab, the party's headquarters. "The system is trying to elect a president that allows it to perpetuate the previous phase. We will not allow them to regenerate through a president who serves their interests."

Lebanon has been without a head of state since Oct. 31, 2022, when Michel Aoun's term ended. Since then, disagreements between Hezbollah and the rest of the Lebanese political class have prevented the election of a head of state. The last time a parliamentary session was convened, on Oct. 22, 2024, it did not take place due to a lack of quorum, with only 49 out of 128 MPs responding to the parliamentary speaker's call, well short of the 65 required.

Since Aoun's departure, 12 electoral sessions have been held without success. Several names are circulating for the presidency, including Joseph Aoun and Sleiman Frangieh, supported by the Amal Movement and Hezbollah.

"After everything that happened in Lebanon and Syria, we thought that the majority of politicians would reassess their positions. But we realized through our contacts for the presidency that the other camp does not want Joseph Aoun as president," Geagea said. He also listed the various pretexts put forward by Aoun's detractors to justify the difficulty of amending the Constitution to elect a military leader to head the country. For General Aoun to be elected, a constitutional amendment would need to be approved by two-thirds of Parliament, or he would need to wait six months after the end of his term as army commander.

Regarding the issue of "Syrians illegally present in Lebanon," the LF leader stated that "at one point they numbered two million, while Lebanon has a population of four million." He further said that his party has "managed this issue" in the Aley region through municipalities close to them, without providing further details.

Geagea also commented on the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

"Who would have said that the Assad regime would collapse? ... No regime has killed and imprisoned as many people," he stated. "Who would have said that the Syrians would leave Lebanon? Days have passed, and they left ... You can be proud because you believed in it."