Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra said on Sunday that “the speeches, slogans and promises of a third republic are a coup d’état against the second republic and national partnership.”

During an electoral gathering in Batroun, Zahra said that the minimum request in the third republic would be a tripartite power-sharing arrangement, even if March 8 sources denied this goal. “The tripartite system they are asking for is the first step on a path to end Lebanon. That is why we hold strongly to our partnership and our alliance with supporters of balanced partnership and the defenders of the second republic,” he said.

Zahra said there may be some flaws in the republic of the Taif Accord but he noted that these mistakes were not sins and that the Lebanese would not allow anyone to turn against it.

He added that the upcoming parliamentary elections would be important and decisive. “The choice is between what we have previously seen in terms of the use of weapons, obstruction, postponements and the prevention of the election of a Lebanese president, and between a project that has preserved the coherence of Lebanese citizens,” Zahra said.

This project, he said, is extensive and is above all individual interests and shares. “It is a project for the future, for stability, for development and for preserving national dignity,” he said. 

-NOW Staff