Geagea bemoans events at Parliament as unconstitutional

The leader of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea declared Wednesday that the only solution lies in the “other team's [March 8] ability to choose a candidate and the parliament convening to hold elections accordingly,” stressing that lawmakers must restore democracy in the country.

During a press conference held in Maarab, Geagea said that quorum should have been reached in order to hold the parliamentary session, noting that “today's events are not constitutional and do not fairly represent democracy.”

In this context, Geagea decried March 8th role in parliament stating that it has been giving deputies two choices, either to elect a candidate whom they approve of, or hinder the elections, therefore dragging Lebanon toward a presidential vacuum.

In a separate event, a group of citizens held a protest at Riad al-Solh Square to voice their rejection to Geagea’s candidacy for the presidential elections.

Leading candidate Samir Geagea, a former warlord who spent 11 years in prison after Lebanon's civil war, fell well short of the required two-thirds support in the first round of the vote last Wednesday. Geagea won 48 of the votes cast by 124 deputies.

His total was eclipsed by 52 blank papers submitted by political opponents determined to block his campaign but who have yet to rally behind any rival candidate.

Lebanon's political system divides up political power among its various religious communities, allocating the presidency to Maronite Christians.

The prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shi'ite Muslim.

The search for a new president comes just one month after Prime Minister Tammam Salam, appointed in March last year, finally ended a year-long government vacuum when he won a vote of confidence in his new cabinet.

A prolonged delay in electing a president could put Lebanon back in limbo just when it most needs leadership to contain months of sectarian conflict and cope with a flood of Syrian refugees and a sharp slowdown in economic growth.