Aoun Leads Baabda March, Vows to Topple Leaders of Corruption

Local Editor

Lebanon: FPM protest

Lebanese Change and Reform leader MP Michel Aoun Sunday vowed to topple the leaders of corruption as Free Patriotic Movement supporters converged on Baabda.

“We are obstructing the bad decisions taken by politicians whose only aim is to topple the pillars of the state by neglecting the Constrictions and national accord,” Aoun said as he addressed hundreds of FPM protesters gathered near the Baabda Palace.

“We will confront you until the end.”

The former FPM leader said that “they (politicians) will pay the price for manipulating the law,” indicating the extension of the terms for top security chiefs.

“The state institution is suffering from a defected leadership,” Aoun said, adding that extending the terms of state servants is a “dangerous issue because it’s dissembling the state.”

He asserted that “real change can only come through the adoption of a proportional electoral law that represents the aspirations of the people.”

“Then we can begin electing a new head of state.”

Aoun expressed belief that the army and Internal Security Forces leaders had “lost their legitimacy,” voicing fear that the extension process “would reach the whole state posts.”

“The Cabinet should have left a long time ago...the extended Parliament, which is still minor, cannot bear the responsibilities.”

He revealed that the FPM will take to the streets of Beirut from time to time with mass demonstrations that are wider than other protests.

Aoun, who is running for the presidency mainly backed by his party's March 8 ally Hezbollah, is calling for a new electoral law based on proportional representation and parliamentary elections, followed by presidential polls. He has called for the election of a president by a popular vote as a way of ending the presidential impasse.

"I called you and you answered my appeal. You are the decision-makers and no one has the right to represent you after today," Aoun said earlier via his official Twitter.

Holding the FPM flags and wearing orange, Aoun’s supporters began assembling near the Baabda Palace to demand the election of a new head of state.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since the mandate of ex-President Michel Sleiman ended in May 2014.

Speaker Nabih Berri had launched all-party talks among heads of parliamentary blocs last month aimed at reaching a deal on the election of a president and ending paralysis in Parliament and the Cabinet. But so far, it hasn't reached the desired results.