MP Mario Aoun, of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of Lebanon’s president, stated on Monday during a televised interview on NBN that President Michel Aoun is not going anywhere, and his presidency will be renewed.
The MP went on to fervently claim that “not extending President Aoun’s mandate is an injustice against him and a portion of the Lebanese population.”
The claim of injustice comes despite the obvious of the failed regime, which has yielded the ongoing multiple disasters reeling the country, including the president’s failure to prevent the August 4th explosion of the port and half the capital, while he knew about the dangerous substance in the port.
An injustice that took the lives of over 200 people, wounded over 6000, and maimed over 1000.
With a government that refuses to get formed, hunger and unemployment increasing tragically, people’s money frozen in banks, the local currency in its worst state ever, and protests shaking the country, the MP comes to confirm what has been recently leaked by the press of ongoing efforts by the party to extend the president’s term.
A recent article published in the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper stated that “legal studies are underway to allow for the extension of Michel Aoun’s term until conditions are met that allow him to pass the presidency to his son-in-law MP Gebran Bassil.”
Mario Aoun also touched on the feud between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun, after the president was heard saying in a leaked audio that Hariri had lied about the government formation process.
“The nation seems to forget that Michel Aoun is the president of the Lebanese republic,” Mario Aoun thought to remind the struggling people.
He continued, addressing Saad Hariri, “You are a prime minister-designate, and you say you proposed a list of 18 politicians we have doubts about. Hariri should come forward to the public and expose name by name the politicians in his list.”
Hariri‘s and Aoun’s camps have recently clashed over the president’s constitutional powers with regards to the government formation process.
While Hariri stressed that the president’s role is constrained to only approving the Cabinet lineup, Michel Aoun insisted that the president is an “equal partner” in forming the government.
“At the end of the day, it is Michel Aoun who gets to give his approval on the cabinet formation,” Mario Aoun emphasized the fact that, after all, has been a factor in halting the country to have a government for urgent reforms.
Mario Aoun also expressed his party’s stance on sectarianism in the country, as the government formation process remains deadlocked. He confidently stated that the FPM is not a sectarian party nor do they want a sectarian political system.
“We’re just emphasizing the importance of the president giving his opinion and approval on the formation of the Lebanese government,” Aoun iterated, refuting that the deadlock is about sectarianism.
It is to note that Mario Aoun is the same politician who had received major backlash, during the wildfires of October 2019, after stating that “although it may come off as sectarian, we have to wonder why the fires are reaching Christian areas only.”
Again the FPM official failed to see the reality since, back then, the wildfires wrecked massive areas across all Lebanon, not only the Christian ones.
The current leader of the FPM‘s party, Gebran Bassil, is also known for sectarian stances. His controversial speech at the Christian Persecution’s conference in Budapest in 2019 got him quite a backlash from the Lebanese on social media, notably from the Christians.
He claimed back then at the conference that Christians are leaving Lebanon because of the presence of Syrian refugees, causing ‘the number of Christians to fall by two thirds.’
In the opinion of the FPM leader, the brutal economic crisis and worsening living conditions don’t seem to factor in the decision of many Lebanese of all religions to leave the country.
That statement of his came at a time in which Lebanese of all sects were massively protesting in the streets against corruption and multiple crises. He also criticized the revolution of the people during the conference, delegitimizing their rightful demands.
It also appears that the FPM party and its MP Mario Aoun don’t seem to be in touch with the harsh reality reeling the country under the current presidency, nor see the brutal living conditions the majority of the population of Lebanon have been struggling with.
Moreover, with the majority of the Lebanese protesting against the regime for over a year, including the currently ongoing, it is highly unlikely that the renewal of the term of the president, who will be 87 years old at the end of his term in 2022, will bring any stability to the country or reforms.
It does beg the question of whether Lebanon could handle another term of disasters and crises, which the FPM and its politicians are in denial of.
