The head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, Sami Gemayel, called for “removing all barriers around Parliament, because the revolutionaries will enter Parliament,” calling on all opposition MPs to unite in defense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and accountability. The constants are defending sovereignty, confronting Hezbollah’s seizure of the country, and rejecting any bargaining over the money of the Lebanese, accountability, and any talk of God’s pardon for the past.
Seeing that we are in front of a completely new scene, he said, “They have lost the majority and the ability to ally with each other, and in this difficult stage, it is forbidden unless we work together to save and defend the people.”
Gemayel’s words came during a popular meeting held at the Kataeb Central House in Saifi, in the presence of President Amin Gemayel and his wife, the winning Kataeb deputies: Elias Hankash, Nadim Gemayel and Salim Al-Sayegh, wife of Kataeb chief Ms. Karen, Majd Harb, Mona Labaki, members of the Kataeb Political Bureau And the Central Council and a crowd of Phalangists and friends.
The head of the Kataeb asked: “Who said that nothing has changed? We heard a lot and they said there is no need for elections because they will return themselves, and Hezbollah will remain in control of the assembly, but no, everything has changed and Hezbollah lost the majority, and dozens of new faces outside the opposition entered the assembly.” The system, that’s what we promised and that’s what happened.”
Gemayel also paid tribute to the Phalangists in the south, who proved that “it is not true that we do not have a word and that we are currency teams, and that we are forgotten, for they brought down Asaad Hardan and the Syrian Nationalist Party.”
Gemayel dedicated “our work and struggle to all the victims of the Beirut port explosion, led by the late Secretary-General of the Phalange Party, Nizar Najarian, Joe Akiki, Joe Andon, Tony Barmaki, and all the victims.”
He added: “We dedicate the struggle to the six thousand martyrs of the struggle in the battalions, headed by President Bashir Gemayel, Pierre Gemayel and Antoine Ghanem, and we dedicate the fatigue and struggle to the martyrs of the Cedar Revolution who gave their lives for us, and today they entered the council through us and through all the youth who came out of the revolution.”
He stressed, “What has been achieved is the loss of the majority by Hezbollah, and the establishment of a parliamentary bloc, meeting, or gathering outside the system, and this happened, and that our allies and those who believe in Lebanon’s sovereignty in accountability, change and reform are numerous, and today we are facing a new stage as those who were in power are sitting and counting how many votes his prophet will receive.” Berri in the presidency of the Council.
He asked: “Who thought they would count the majority and how many votes did they get? And who would have thought that the symbols of the Syrian regime would bring down this resounding fall?”
He stressed that the people have proven that they are a living people, ready for accountability and capable of changing the equation, noting that “now is the time to work and continue the struggle as if it is the time of elections to keep pace with the change in the parliament alongside our representatives and friends to restore the country because we are coming to major battles.”
He stressed that “decentralization is the first goal that we will work on. There is a law that we want to put on the table and we demand a vote on it because it is more urgent than ever, as well as the electronic vote that was put in the drawer to hold the deputies accountable for their performance in the parliament so that no one evades accountability and we approve the law that we presented in 2018 ruling to cancel the salaries of former MPs for life.
Gemayel concluded: “We are here and we will continue with the young men who entered the council with broad shoulders and bearing the same constants. We promise you that we will fight the battle with all our might because we are coming on difficult days that need knees and shoulders, our passengers are strong and our shoulders are broad and we will not fear anyone, and we will enter the The Council, with all our strength and struggle, is our support to defend the Lebanese people.”
The deputy head of the Kataeb Party, elected MP Salim al-Sayegh, said: “All the party enlisted because they knew the difficulty of the battle, meaning that we are facing the system in our own backyard, which we said brought a curse on Lebanon from Kesrouan, and in Kesrouan we will return and overthrow it.” He added: “The promise that I will not forget why I am here and what agency people gave me and thousands of voices believed that in this list there is a name that will change something in this country.”
As Al-Sayegh asserted, “We will not bargain over arms in order to win power,” he stressed, “We will confront and that is why the people voted for us. We will face the seizure of Lebanon. We did not change, so we entered the council.” He continued, “We will not accept unless each perpetrator is held accountable and brought to justice, the rule of law returns, trust is restored, alienation returns and invests in his country.”
For his part, elected MP Nadim Gemayel thanked the voters for their loyalty during the elections, stressing that “we enter the parliament to restore dignity and justice to the people of Beirut and the martyrs of the port. It is not possible to build a homeland and a state of institutions if there is no law and justice, and this is the first thing we will work on.” He said, “They used to say if Lebanon was fine, the Kataeb would be fine. Perhaps in the past elections we were 3 MPs, but not all of Lebanon was fine. Today, the Kataeb is rising, and after the Kataeb rise, Lebanon will be resurrected.”
Gemayel asserted that “the project that was defeated is the project of Hezbollah and its weapons, its regional project, which was believed to raise the Iranian flag over 4 capitals. Today, we proved to him that the Iranian flag is not raised while Beirut is still Lebanese.”
Elected MP Elias Hankash, in turn, pointed out that “you must be proud because, in the Metn in particular, you defended and confronted lies with the truth and confronted the money that was spent. You confronted lies with struggle. We did not and will not compromise.”
The elected representative, Adeeb Abdel Masih, congratulated the battalions and the forces of change “who destabilized the system on May 15” and stressed that “in cooperation with all the forces of change, I continue to work to confront corruption and weapons.”