The March 14 Alliance has been wavering, confused and puzzled by the latest remarks of MP Walid Jumblatt, as the past “top alliance leader” changed course on Sunday announcing that his alliance with the March 14 coalition “was out of necessity and has to be terminated.”
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri told As-Safir newspaper on Monday that Jumblatt “never loses his way”” and said he expected the PSP leader’s stances to have negative repercussions on the March 14 bloc.
Berri welcomed Jumblatt’s setback saying the discussions on the guaranteeing-third vote have become meaningless, adding that the three prospective Druze ministers will no longer be considered within March 14’s ministerial share. “Jumblatt’s position proved my expectations that there will be a reshuffling of cards after the June 7 parliamentary elections,” Berri said. Sources close to Berri told Al-Akhbar newspaper that Jumblat’s stance should pressure prime minister designate Saad Hariri to hurry in the cabinet formation.
The Future Movement responded to Jumblatt’s stance saying that each political party has the right to adopt its own stance.
According to As-Safir, the Future movement response came after Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and the Phalanges party as well as other “independent” March 14 Christian leaderships threatened to take a position against Jumblatt”. However, the 14 March alliancs agreed that the Future Movement statement was the first in a series of reactions to Jumblatt. “It’s ok if some want to remind of their history, but on condition of not going back to the shameful history in which many were partners in putting their personal interest above the nation’s interest,” the statement read.
Jumblatt told As-Safir newspaper that he will not respond to the Future Movement’s Sunday statement that claimed that the March 14 coalition had never rejected other Lebanese parties and that it is loyal to its “Lebanon First” slogan, adding that he will wait for clarification.
“Is it shameful to name the PSP’s bright achievements and phases of struggle, such as objecting to the Baghdad Coalition and having reservations on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon?” Jumblatt told the paper. He added that the Future Movement’s logic is “strange,” saying that “if the movement’s statement was in response to my stance toward the ‘Lebanon First’ slogan” – a reference to Jumblatt’s rejection of the motto, which he called it “isolationist” – “then the reaction is exaggerated.”
Jumblatt said that he aims at re-building the PSP on the basis of historic fundamentals, while monitoring the youth’s degree of support for his slogans and proposals before considering the establishment of a new national movement.
MAJOR SETBACK
MP Marwan Hamadeh told LBC TV that he already knew that Jumblatt had a trend toward independence from the March 14 coalition. “What is happening is an interpretation of the party’s independence, and does not mean a blow against the majority which Hariri enjoys,” Hamadeh said.
An Nahar daily on Monday quoted officials as speaking of a major setback, raising the possibility that some opposition forces could use Jumblatt’s remarks to challenge the continuation of the majority’s cover for Hariri in his mission.
They argued that Jumblatt’s 11-strong parliamentary bloc could decrease the number of the majority from 71 to 60 in the event that the Druze leader officially decided to walk out of the March 14 alliance.
This could lead to the emergence of “different reality” than that consolidated by parliamentary elections “even if the majority still beat the Opposition which has 57 deputies,” An Nahar said.
