Mouawad: We Will Not Yield to Hegemony, Only Winning Elections Solves Crisis
Head of Independence Movement Michel Mouawad stressed on Friday that the March 14 alliance will not participate in the national dialogue session “at a time when the killing machine is still active in Lebanon”.
In a speech he gave during a ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of his father President Rene Mouawad's assassination, the northern leader said he values President Michel Suleiman's efforts to reconciliate the disputing parties in the country, but they (March 14) “will not yield to hegemony”.
“The national dialogue is not a substitute for the presidency, premiership, parliament, and government,” Mouawad added, explaining that the opposition's past participation in the all-party talks “did not ensure stability or prevent assassinations in the country”.
The March 14 coalition announced after the assassination of General Wissam al-Hasan on October 19 that it will suspend all activities related to the government's work and will also boycott the national dialogue sessions, awaiting the resignation of Miqati's cabinet.
“The current crisis in the country will only be resolved if March 14 wins a clear majority in the 2013 parliamentary elections,” Mouawad stated, rejecting any centrism that would “repeat the post-2009 elections experience which allowed Hizbullah to topple the government”.
After the 2009 parliamentary elections, Saad Hariri formed a national unity government that included ministers belonging to different political parties in the country. Hariri's government was toppled when March 8 ministers resigned and the coalition nominated PM Najib Miqati to form the current cabinet.
“We must return to our principles and we must assure the Lebanese that we will not compromise our values,” said the Independence Movement leader about March 14's future political approaches, adding that the coalition's “goals are justified but its performance was not up to par”.
Mouawad said “winning parliamentary seats is not the goal but rather the fight to achieve Lebanon's sovereignty”, describing the political crisis as “a battle against foreign hegemony over Lebanon”.
The Independence Movement leader also responded to statements accusing Israel of committing the assassinations in the country, explaining that “there are 100 reasons that prove Syria's involvement, among them the Special Tribunal for Lebanon accusing four Hizbullah members of participating in former PM Rafik Hariri's assassination”.
Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh and other March 8 politicians have repeatedly questioned why March 14 has refrained from accusing Israel of the assassinations in Lebanon and blaming them instead on the Syrian regime.
The ceremony was held in Dbaye with the participation of a wide range of March 14 politicians and representatives of the three presidents of the country and of religious figures.
President Rene Mouawad was killed on Independence Day in 1989 in an attack blamed on Syria by the Mouawad family and Damascus' foes in Lebanon.
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