Geagea Says LF Working for 'Effective' Dialogue with FPM

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea has said that he wants to reach a “deep and effective” understanding with his rival Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

“Dialogue would resolve a lot of problems, including the presidency … but things need time,” Geagea said on Monday about his upcoming talks with Aoun.

“The dialogue and the agreement (with Aoun) should … lead to a deep and effective understanding,” the LF chief told al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview.

Such a deal between the two parties would “contribute to improving the political life in Lebanon,” he said.

Geagea stressed that 80 percent of Christians back the dialogue between him and Aoun.

“I am not pessimistic no matter how much obstacles we will confront,” he said.

Asked about a document that the LF and the FPM are preparing to agree on, Geagea said: “There are some obstacles that we are trying to overcome and solve as soon as possible.”

He reiterated that the two parties have so far failed to agree on the presidential deadlock.

Both Geagea and Aoun have announced their candidacies for the presidency. Their rivalry, in addition to other issues, have left Baabda Palace vacant since President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May last year.

The LF chief backed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's claims that a solution to the presidential crisis does not lie only in the hands of Christians.

“The presidency is not only for Christians. It is for all the Lebanese,” he said.

Despite his optimism on his future agreement with the FPM, Geagea expressed pessimism on a possible solution to the presidential deadlock anytime soon.

He reiterated that the main problem lies with the parliamentary blocs that are causing a lack of quorum at the sessions aimed at electing a president.

G.K.

H.K.