Michel Sleiman

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Lebanese officials react to Iran nuclear deal

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and other Lebanese officials praised the deal reached between Iran and world powers Tuesday and expressed hope that the agreement would usher a new era of peace to Lebanon and the Middle East.

“We hope that this development will have positive repercussions on the situation in the Middle East, in a way that helps reduce tensions and spreads peace and stability,” Salam said in a statement.

Before the agreement was reached, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Sunday that an Iranian nuclear deal could help pave the way to ending the presidential vacuum in Lebanon.

Other leaders from opposing parties also expressed their delight, including Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, Marada Movement chief Sleiman Frangieh, and former President Michel Sleiman.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt were the only officials in Lebanon who spoke against the deal on Tuesday.

“Some have hopes about the nuclear deal but I disagree,” Geagea told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

He said the deal is only a “mere agreement” and that it can potentially “aggravate” the situation in the Middle East.

Jumblatt said the deal “excludes Arabs…with total disregard for the Palestinian cause” and provided a “boost” to the “murderous” regime of Bashar Assad.

Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will be lifted, in return for Iran’s acceptance of long-term curbs on its nuclear program, which the West had claimed was aimed at creating a nuclear weapon.

The lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets in the United States will provide Iran with billions of dollars.

The former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Sadegh Kharazi, was quoted as saying by The Guardian that the deal ended the “Cold War” between Iran and the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the agreement as a “historic mistake” and said he would do what he could to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons. Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted,” Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in Jerusalem.

“Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world. This is a bad mistake of historic proportions.”

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Former president Michel Sleiman awarded papal order

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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Former Preisdent Michel Sleiman was honored with a Papal Order of Knighthood during a ceremony at the Vatican on Monday.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin presented Sleiman with the Order of Pius IX, which is the highest Order the Vatican currently grants, and among the third-highest of all papal Orders.

The ceremony was attended by high-rank Italian and Lebanese officials, including Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and Commander of the Italian Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Claudio Graziano, as well as many ambassadors and religious figures.

Sleiman spoke about Christian existence in Lebanon, and the challenges they currently face.

“I ask the permission to reiterate, that the future of Christians in the Arab world cannot be secured by foreign military protection,” Sleiman said.

Sleiman said that the existence of Christians can only be guaranteed under a pluralist system that allows for natural civil liberties.

“I have worked during my presidential term, with active conscience, to expel the ghost of extremism and division from my nation, which led to the Baabda Declaration that earned the support of all Lebanese components,” he said.

Sleiman also called on the Maronites of Lebanon to “put personal interests aside and quickly elect a new president.”

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Aoun’s bloc to cast blank ballot for presidential election

BEIRUT: The Change and Reform bloc headed by MP Michel Aoun will cast a blank ballot during Wednesday’s Parliament session to elect a new president as the presumed candidates have yet to secure a two-thirds majority.

“We will attend tomorrow’s Parliament session and we will cast a blank ballot,” MP Emile Rahme told reporters after a bloc meeting chaired by Aoun in Rabieh.

While the former Army general has said he would only run for the country’s top Christian post as a “consensus candidate,” his rival, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced his candidacy earlier this month.

Meanwhile, MP Walid Jumblatt said his National Struggle Front bloc nominated MP Henry Helou for the post, describing the Aley lawmaker as a “voice of moderation.”

Speaking to reporters after his bloc’s meeting, Jumblatt denied Helou’s nomination was a “political maneuver,” saying he believed his lawmaker can help safeguard the country.

Only Geagea and MP Robert Ghanem have announced their candidacy for the presidency although Lebanon has entered its two-month constitutional deadline to elect a new head of state.

President Michel Sleiman’s six-year term ends on May 25.

None of the candidates including those who consider themselves natural nominees such as Auon and Kataeb head Amin Gemayel have yet worked to secure two thirds majority for the first round of the parliamentary sessions.

In a clear sign Gemayel would not enter the presidential race as announced last week, MP Elie Marounie said Kataeb lawmakers would attend the legislative session and vote in favor of Geagea.

A Lebanese Forces delegation headed by MP Strida Geagea handed Speaker Nabih Berri a copy of presidential hopeful Geagea’s platform during a meeting in Ain el-Tineh.

Geagea said the speaker praised her husband’s agenda, saying the LF expected its head to do well in Wednesday’s session.

“We expect Geagea to get no less than 50 votes for the first round of election… we have 37 votes from the Future bloc, eight votes from the Lebanese Forces along with several other independent lawmakers,” the MP told reporters after the meeting.

“As a March 14 coalition, we insist on having a single candidate. Our candidate, as March 14 forces, is Geagea and it is too early to talk about other options,” she added.

She also thanked Telecoms Minister Butros Harb, once thought to be a presidential hopeful, for contacting Geagea and voicing support for his candidacy.

Earlier in the day, Berri held talks with MP Michel Murr, head of the Lebanese Democratic Party MP Talal Arslan as well as Health Minister Wael Abu Faour who headed a delegation from Jumblatt.

Murr said he along with MP Nayla Tueni would attend Wednesday’s morning session, adding that he expected quorum.

“I will check with my conscious and Lebanon’s interest and then I will elect a president on that basis,” Murr told reporters after the meeting in Ain el-Tineh.

Berri also spoke to Arslan and the PSPS delegation about the presidential election.

The speaker also met with a delegation from Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya headed by MP Imad Hout.

Several blocs have already confirmed their attendance of Wednesday’s session including lawmakers from Jumblatt and Berri’s blocs.

MP Robert Ghanem who visited Geagea and Maronite Cardinal Beshara Rai Tuesday said he was running for the election because he was a consensus candidate.

“I announced my candidacy on the basis that I am a consensus president. According to Article 49, the president is the head of the nation’s unit and works for its institutions,” Ghanem told reporters after his meeting with Geagea in Maarab.

“When I announced I was running, I was convinced that the power of moderation is the effective power that can restore state institutions,” he added.

Future MP Ahmad Fatfat also met with Rai and ruled out the possibility of Lebanon plunging into a presidential vacuum.

Source: The Daily Star

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Sleiman reiterates rejection of extending his term

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman reiterated Sunday that he would not accept an extension of his presidential term that ends next month.

“I am bored of answering the question about extending my term, and I say it once again that I am against the extension because it not democratic,” Sleiman said, speaking from Bkirki where he attended the Sunday Easter Mass.

“I say no for extension of the presidency or in Parliament,” he said.

Sleiman said that boycotting the upcoming Parliament session to elect a new president would be “wrong” as it meant “boycotting consensus and Dialogue.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai also appealed to lawmakers to attend the session, saying that “it is an honor for lawmakers to elect a new president.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has called for a Parliament session to elect a new head of state Wednesday, but it is not certain whether a quorum for such session will be secured.

The president also praised the presidential campaign platform of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who declared his candidacy for the election earlier this month.

“I like the presidential program of Samir Geagea because it is national and sovereign, and I congratulate any president who applies such program,” he said.

A delegation from the LF held a rare visit to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at his Rabieh residence Saturday afternoon and gave him a copy of Geagea’s presidential program.

The delegation included MPs Strida Geagea, Joseph Maalouf and Fadi Karam, along with former Minister Toni Karam and a member of the party’s executive committee, Eddy Abi al-Lamaa.

Sleiman also spoke about his ties with Hezbollah, which have deteriorated recently over the president’s criticism of the party’s role in Syria.

“My ties with Hezbollah are normal, Hezbollah ministers are present within the government and I see them once or twice a week,” he said.

“The party just took inappropriate stances, and I made statement that they did not like.”

Source: The Daily Star

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‘Friendly’ Meeting between Aoun, LF Delegates

A Lebanese Forces delegation met with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Saturday afternoon, and handed him over a copy of the LF leader’s presidential program.

The delegation included MPs Sethrida Geagea, Joseph al-Maalouf, Fadi Karam, former minister Toni Karam and member of the party’s Executive Committee Eddy Abi al-Lamaa.

MTV provided late on Saturday details on the “friendly” meeting between Aoun and the LF delegates.

It reported that the talks started with MP Geagea handing over the presidential program to Aoun, with a greeting from LF leader Samir Geagea.

“We hope that you would support his candidacy,” Sethrida Geagea told Aoun, who responded with a smile, according to MTV.

The FPM leader told Geagea that the final decision on whether he will run for office or not will be announced on Tuesday, after his Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting.

“My presidential program is focused only on securing stability,” Aoun remarked.

The meeting ended with both parties agreeing on attending Wednesday’s parliamentary session, and on supporting a “strong candidate who has a clear program.”

MP Geagea assured Aoun that the LF will be “the first to congratulate him if he wins in the presidential race, and that the party will stand by whomever becomes president.”

“I will also be the first to congratulate Geagea if he takes office,” Aoun responded, according to the same source.

LF officials have been holding talks with different parties and leaders in the country to hand them over LF leader Geagea’s presidential program, and to discuss the upcoming elections.

LF sources told MTV on Friday that a meeting with Hizbullah officials will be requested for the same purpose as well.

“We will request an appointment to meet with Hizbullah officials as well but we are not sure they will be responsive. But we are going to do what we have to do,” the sources said.

MTV said on Saturday that LF MP George Adwan is the person tasked with contacting Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal party over this matter.

On Wednesday, Geagea announced a presidential program that focused on “restoring the authority of the state against the proliferation of weapons during a time of regional unrest.”

The LF chief also called for a state monopoly on the use of force, including confronting Israel.

He is the sole politician to have officially announced his candidacy for the polls, which are first scheduled to be held on April 23.

Speaker Nabih Berri called on MPs to meet next Wednesday, although the election is not expected to be an easy process amid a lack of agreement on a consensual candidate.

President Michel Suleiman’s six-year tenure ends on May 25.

Source: Naharnet

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Salam meets al-Rahi, sees no reason for presidential elections to be postponed

Prime Minister Tammam Salam expressed on Thursday his optimism that the presidential elections will be held on time and according to democratic practices.

He said: “We believe that the polls can be held given that Lebanon has been respecting its democracy as demonstrated through the formation of the government and the various parliamentary sessions that have been held lately.”

He made his remarks after holding talks at Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the occasion of the Easter holidays.

“There is no reason for the polls to be postponed seeing as democracy is being applied,” stressed Salam.

“We have no reason to be doubtful of the elections,” he continued.

The premier stated that he is keen on respecting the wishes of al-Rahi in holding the elections on time, saying: “It is our duty to comply with national demands, especially if they are made by Bkirki.”

President Michel Suleiman’s six-year term ends in May.

The constitutional deadline to elect a president began on March 25 and ends of May 25.

Earlier this week, Speaker Nabih Berri called for a parliament session for April 23 to elect a president.

So far, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea is the only candidate to submit his candidacy.

Source: Naharnet

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Reports: Gemayel, Saniora agree on March 14 coordination to choose single presidential candidate

Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel and the head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora agreed on the importance of coordination between the March 14 alliance’s members before backing any presidential candidate, sources said Tuesday.

Saniora visited Gemayel on Monday after talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Riyadh.

MTV reported on Tuesday that Hariri had telephoned the Kataeb chief on to discuss the latest developments.

A terse statement issued by the Kataeb chief’s press office on Monday said discussions with Saniora focused on the presidential elections and the need to hold them on time.

But sources told several local dailies that Gemayel and Saniora stressed the unity of March 14, the importance of coordination to have a single candidate, and coming up with a mechanism to choose the person who is most capable to garner the support of MPs from outside the alliance, mainly centrists.

The vote of lawmakers from the coalition is not enough to guarantee the election of a March 14 figure, they said.

After his talks with Gemayel, Saniora met with the March 14 camp’s independent figures and briefed them on the results of his discussions with Hariri in Riyadh.

The adviser of the Mustaqbal movement chief, Nader Hariri, who was in Riyadh with Saniora, met with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, a centrist, at his residence in Clemenceau.

Also Monday, Gemayel held talks with President Michel Suleiman’s adviser, former Minister Khalil Hrawi.

Sources said that Gemayel was coming under pressure by party members and his allies in March 14 to officially announce his candidacy for the presidency.

Suleiman’s six-year term ends in May but the Constitutional deadline for the election of a new head of state started on March 25.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea was the first to announce he was running for the presidency, leaving his March 14 allies in confusion.

Other presidential hopefuls are Gemayel, MPs Butros Harb and Robert Ghanem, who are like Geagea members of March 14.

Potential candidates from the March 8 alliance are Hizbullah allies Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh.

Lebanese presidents are always chosen from the Maronite sect in accordance with the 1943 National Pact.

 

Source: Naharnet

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Rai: President with majority vote will have my backing

BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai Friday denied media reports that he supported an independent presidential candidate over one picked by the March 8 or March 14 groups, saying he supported any properly elected president.

“Any president – whether from March 8, March 14 or from outside these groups – who is elected by the absolute majority in Parliament is our president,” Rai told reporters at Rafik Hariri International Airport after returning from Geneva.

The head of the Maronite Church clarified the remarks he made to foreign media outlets while in Geneva.

“We said what everybody says, which is that if no agreement [among rival groups] is reached over one candidate from the March 14 or March 8 coalitions … then it will be possible that no one from either the March 14 or March 8 coalitions would assume the presidency,” Rai said, adding that he neither backed nor excluded any particular candidate.

However, sources at the Patriarchate told The Daily Star that Rai had information that local and regional signs indicated that a consensus president unaffiliated with either coalition stood the best chance.

The sources said that a consensus president would prioritize national interest and would believe in a moderate political stance.

Meanwhile, Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat told the National News Agency that a meeting between former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Future Movement leader Saad Hariri in Riyadh Friday primarily focused on the presidential election.

Former Minister Jean Obeid, a possible presidential candidate, explained Friday why he had not announced his candidacy.

“He considers that rules and customs do not require the announcement of candidacy or a platform for presidential elections,” said a statement issued from Obeid’s office.

“Without false pretenses, he considers himself not to be a candidate so far due to the lack of high chances [for his victory] amid the current circumstances surrounding the competition,” the statement added.

A moderate figure, Obeid maintains good ties with Speaker Nabih Berri, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and other politicians from the rival March 8 and March 14 coalitions. Many view him as a possible consensus candidate for presidential elections.

The constitutional period for the election of the new president began on March 25, two months ahead of the expiry of President Michel Sleiman’s term.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who announced his candidacy last month, said that Lebanon’s salvation lay in having a strong republic that required a strong president with clear stances.

Addressing visitors at his Maarab residence, Geagea said a strong president should be honest, stick to his position, support the state alone and not back down in fear of Hezbollah.

“The strong president is the one who says frankly what he wants and who launches his campaigns in front of the people and not in embassies and behind closed doors, … who has never sought a post or gains but only wants to be a strong president in a strong republic,” Geagea added.

Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb, also a potential candidate, said on Twitter that he would not announce his candidacy officially, as the Constitution did not require hopefuls to declare their intention to run in the presidential poll.

Western Bekaa MP Robert Ghanem announced his candidacy.

In an interview by a local television station Thursday evening, Ghanem said he believed in March 8’s values of resistance, but was also dedicated to the values of independence and sovereignty that were emphasized following the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Frederic Hof, a former adviser of the U.S. secretary of state, told a radio station that a dangerous vacuum in the presidency was possible, given the domestic repercussions of Syria’s war resulting from Hezbollah’s military involvement.

 

Source: The Daily Star

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