Kataeb President MP Sami Gemayel launched his party’s electoral campaign on Sunday with a fiery speech, strongly criticizing the country’s ruling authority and calling on the Lebanese to vote massively for a political project that frees them from “deals, quota system and illegal weapons.”
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Kataeb MP Fadi Habr said that Gemayel “did not attack the political class, nor did he cut communication lines with them, but revealed the flaws of the authority of corruption and quotas.”
“The current ruling authority was created through the intersection of regional and internal interests serving Hezbollah and the Iranian agenda; in one way or another, it is covering Hezbollah’s weapons and its engagement in fighting in the Arab world,” Habr noted.
He went on to say that Gemayel’s discourse “is not just an electoral speech to mobilize the public or the grass-roots level, but rather a corrective stance and an opportunity for the Lebanese to save the country from the stalemate and regression it is witnessing.”
Electoral Affairs Expert Rabih Habr stressed that the Kataeb Party was able to form new alliances in many electoral districts, noting in this regard the party’s strong presence in northern Metn. He also hinted at the possibility to forge an alliance with former MP Farid Haykal Khazen and prominent businessman Neemat Frem in Keserouan.
The Kataeb Party refused to participate in the current government after it was offered a single ministry. This has created rivalries with its old allies in the March 14 Forces, such as the Future Movement, and disagreements with the Lebanese Forces.
The party, however, maintained close relations with the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), led by MP Walid Jumblatt.
MP Fadi Habr did not conceal the existence of an alliance project between the Kataeb and some parties represented in the government, such as the PSP in Mount Lebanon and the Lebanese Forces in the North (Koura and Batroun).
