“Every bloc that contests me in the elections is against me,” declared Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Thursday evening, “and all those who have a different track are our political foes.”
“We have basic principles that are not up for discussion, such as restoring the rights of the displaced.”
At a press conference in his Rabiyeh home, following a meeting of his Change and Reform bloc, Aoun did not mince words in brushing off questions about the president or Aoun’s former ally, MP Michel al-Murr, asserting that he feared neither man, “nor those who have bigger or smaller effects.”
Aoun similarly dismissed the notion of compromising with his political peers, slamming the concept of a neutral or centralist bloc and saying that political “upstaging” would only have a negative effect on those attempting it.
“The neutral bloc is a nickname for March 14, and those who consider themselves within this category should have [taken this position] ten months ago,” he told reporters.
The former general also called for an investigation into the energy ministry, headed by Alain Tabourian of the Tashnaq Party. “It doesn’t make sense that all the electricity projects that were executed for 18 years are not working. Has the electricity sector worked properly but once in Lebanon?”
And on the recent meeting that brought together Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad at Youth and Sports Minister Talal Arlsan’s residence in Khaldeh, Aoun said the gathering had not yielded any decisions and was not particularly unique. “Such meetings are a necessity if the two parties both intend to stabilize the situation.”
Yet Aoun also said there would be no “armed struggle” with Jumblatt, saying instead that “the political situation between us is not tense.”
Asked about pro-Hezbollah and sectarian slogans found Thursday morning in the Amshit public high school, Aoun demanded an investigation into the issue and refused to “discuss such matters in a provocative way” to avoid inciting sectarian disputes.
-NOW Staff