Geagea: Strong Republic Bloc stands firm on holding municipal and Mukhtar's elections

Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, announced that "the Strong Republic bloc will not participate in the legislative session that the parliament will hold on Tuesday."

He emphasized the party's insistence on holding municipal and Mukhtar's elections and stated that, "if there is an extension of the municipal councils, then we will object."

Moreover, Geagea pointed out that "what has been happening for about two months in the context of preparing for the municipal elections is extremely regrettable, as it reflects an ongoing cheating game from their well-known and uncovered maneuvers, whose goal is to avoid the municipal elections by extending the municipal councils and Mukhtar's elections."

"The axis of resistance and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) think that cheating can slide past Lebanese people and then blame the government for not being ready to hold the municipal elections, while everyone knows that they constitute the government's majority," he said.

However, Geagea added that "the Interior Minister, who is the first and last responsible for this duty, confirmed that he is administratively and logistically fully prepared to hold the elections and that once funding is secured, the administrative and logistical problem will be solved."

"We do not expect any good from the resistance and the FPM blocs. We turn to other blocs with different intentions, such as the Democratic Gathering and the National Moderation and other independent deputies and blocs, to think carefully and not fall into the trap of the resistance and the FPM blocs and to refrain from participating in the parliament session on Tuesday because the parliament is an electoral body, not a legislative one. Therefore the session will be unconstitutional," he continued.

He also noted that "in the Strong Republic bloc, we insist on always being true to our name, as the strength of the republic lies in adhering to constitutional deadlines, committing to laws and public order, holding elections on time, and refusing to follow the existing constitutional corruption and chaos."