Franjieh: Aoun Taking FPM Side in Country's Elections
Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh accused President Michel Aoun of allegedly “interfering and taking sides in the parliamentary elections” by supporting his own Free Patriotic Movement, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.
“It’s very obvious. The President is taking sides as founder of the Free Patriotic Movement, not President of the Republic,” Franjieh told the daily in an interview.
“Things are clear starting with (Aoun) receiving the entire FPM parliamentary candidates, to the formation of Keserwan (district) electoral list and communicating with (FPM) candidates Neemat Efrem and ex-MP Mansour al-Bonn reaching to his interference in even the smallest details in the Metn area,” said Franjieh.
The MP criticized “opportunists who transfer loyalty from one term to the next to serve their interests exclusively,” adding that “intervention of the authorities (in the polls) this time is the most blatant in Lebanon's history.”
Relations have been strained between Aoun and Franjieh since October 2016. Both men were running for the presidency which eventually led the latter’s loss.
Lebanon will hold its general elections, the first in nine years, in 15 electoral districts on Sunday.
Elections will be held based on a complex proportional representation system replacing a majoritarian winner-takes-all system.
Source: Naharnet
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