Aoun Says Some Seeking to 'Impose President' after 'Usurping Power' since 2005
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Monday accused some political forces of seeking to “impose a president” on the country, stressing that he “will not join those who have been usurping power” since 2005.
"Our resistance confirmed our right to Lebanon's existence, and this is what happened on March 14, 2005, but unfortunately, parties that never ruled according to these values rose to power, and they moved from one hegemony to another," Aoun said in a speech marking the 24th anniversary of his ouster from the Baabda Palace following a Syrian-led offensive.
"I told you that preserving independence is harder than gaining it, but these remarks went down the drain, and Lebanon's rulers continued to receive orders and diktats from many sources, violating the charter of national coexistence, usurping the powers of an entire sect and electing a Christian president who is not truly representative," Aoun added.
He lamented that proper Christian representation is missing in parliament and in the presidency.
"There is a majority which extended its own term and is preparing us for a new extension" of the parliament's term, Aoun added.
"There is a group that wants to impose the president while rejecting that he be elected by the people," the FPM leader went on to say, referring to his controversial proposal on electing the president through a popular vote.
Turning to the issue of parliamentary polls, Aoun said the electoral law endorsed in the advanced countries "is the law based on the individual constituency."
"Since its implementation in Lebanon is impossible due to the confessional system, our only choice is proportional representation," he pointed out.
He noted that the issue of the presidency is "the issue of a sect which is being denied its right to be like the other sects."
"Amid these circumstances, are we supposed to join those who usurped power (in 2005) and rejected the participation of others?" Aoun added.
Commenting on the security situations, the FPM leader warned that Lebanon is facing "impending dangers," noting that the country "has been drowned with the (Syrian) refugees."
"A part of its land has become under the control of takfiri groups whom have been condemned by the entire world, and yet we're still hearing remarks from certain parties that any military measure against them would be tantamount to sparking sedition," Aoun decried.
He called on all Lebanese to "stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of these forces, which have kidnapped hostages and entangled the government with conditions that are not clear until the moment."
"Let us remember the beginning of the Syrian war and the stances of the then Lebanese government, which claimed self-dissociation and left the border loose, the thing that allowed the gunmen and the refugees to violate it," Aoun added.
Y.R.
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