Frem to Al-Anba: I am a reformist candidate with a rescue project to the presidency of the republic,

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Source: Al-Anba (Kuwait)

Beirut - Ahmed Mansour

Independent MP Neemat Frem announced that he is a reformist candidate to the presidency of the republic and that he carries a comprehensive project of rescue for Lebanon. He considered that “the country does not need a president of coincidence, but a head of state with a clear mission and a unifying project based on building the state institutions so that they redraw the future of the Lebanese."

He also warned that “if we do not commit to electing a president of the republic, designating a prime minister and forming a government, -- whereby voting should be for the unifying mission and project the president and the government carry --, we will then face complete chaos and undesired consequences, which are a stone's throw away."

In a statement to Kuwaiti Al-Anba newspaper, the lawmaker deplored that "we have reached a tipping point and a moment of truth in our nation. People are hungry, in pain, and emigrating; institutions are agonizing; Lebanon is dying."

"What I am proposing is based on determining a common ground among the political groups and societal components, in order to reach an agreement and then embark on the rescue operation and exit the crisis," he explained.

"The election of a president of the republic paves the way for ending failure, which has for long been the name of the political game, and for stepping into a new era," he continued.

According to Frem, "we have to be open if we are truly ready to admit, as political groups and societal components, that we want to live together." He also stressed the necessity of addressing all concerns and of acting responsibly in order to rebuild the Lebanese state and its institutions.

Tackling the common ground he touts, Frem highlighted the importance of building this ground on the basis of the social contract in tandem with clinching the national contract, to facilitate consensus around it and increase its chances of success. "We shall then endorse the required structural issues, such as the expansive decentralization, the establishment of a senate, the independence of the judiciary, the vote law and the national security policy."

Frem then underlined that the Lebanese social contract, just like the national contract, should not be based on the sharing of quotas, “but on complementarity, productivity, and the simulation of all aspirations and concerns, under the ceiling of coexistence."

Asked whether he presents himself as a presidential candidate, the lawmaker explained that “this is the project of rescue, and what matters is a prior agreement over it and over the personality who is qualified for conducting this rescue mission."

"What is needed is a president driven by a mission and carrying a project, a president who can reassure the Lebanese, the Arabs and the international community, and who is capable of sparking the required positive shock based on his ethics on one hand, and his reliance on his people's trust on the other," he added. “This president must have a deep understanding of the critical balances and national constants. He must also work on bridging the gaps among the Lebanese people with his communication and persuasion skills, not to mention his mastering of managing change, rebuilding the institutions, and organizing and activating their structures with utmost momentum and productivity.”

He went on saying: "The parliamentary blocs are the ones who nominate (a president), and my name is on the table. I consider myself a point of convergence and at a demarcation line between the world of economy and institutions' building on one hand, and the world of public affairs and politics on the other."

"The responsibility of salvation falls upon everybody's shoulder; it is not restricted to one sect or one camp. Addressing the concerns of all the national components is the responsibility of each and every sect and camp," he concluded.