Geagea Holds the President Primarily Responsible for Saving the Elections

The head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea.

Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri had barely finished his retaliation against the head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, by convening a legislative session that did not include amending the election law on its agenda, following the blow Berri received from Geagea by disrupting the quorum of two previous sessions. Geagea quickly seized the moment, hastening to throw the ball of the elections into the court of the President of the Republic, thereby bypassing the disagreements between him and Baabda without dismissing them, and obliging the presidency to engage more seriously with the open message he addressed to it.

This is not Geagea's first message; about two weeks ago, he had sent messages to the three presidents, focusing on the issues of weapons and elections, but he did not receive a response from any of them. On the contrary, the messages were downplayed despite their importance, as they came from the largest parliamentary bloc. Therefore, Geagea found himself compelled to raise his voice again, but with a louder tone and a higher ceiling than before, justifying the question of whether this new level of attack on the presidents, without exception though with varying tones, marks a point of no return and sets the course toward participating in the parliamentary elections regardless of the law or circumstances.

Based on this, one can pause at the multiple messages Geagea sent in all directions, the most prominent being three:

* The first to the Lebanese people in general and the Lebanese Forces supporters and base, affirming that the party is ready to participate in the elections under any format or form, with no intention to postpone them, and to the expatriates urging them to participate in the elections and warning them against attempts to waste their votes.

* The second to the three presidents collectively after recalling what he described as the 'troika,' warning against its return despite it having been buried and declared dead previously. This message contains a clear accusation against the presidents of collusion regarding securing the quorum for the last legislative session.

* The third message was dedicated to the President of the Republic, in which he addressed an open letter calling on him to exercise his constitutional powers by addressing the Parliament to push seriously and responsibly for the election law issue. Geagea had previously proposed this to Aoun and was promised follow-up, but no progress was made.

Geagea feels that the parliamentary entitlement is facing a looming danger amid unrealistic proposals in his view. Their goal is to keep things as they are, possibly depriving the Lebanese Forces of maintaining or even increasing their representation. Geagea believes that by addressing the matter directly as he did today, he places the political forces and the authority before their responsibilities.

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