Kataeb Lawmaker Elias Hankach emphasized that Lebanon urgently needs a president with the authority to make decisions regarding peace and war, serving as the highest commander of the armed forces and representing Lebanon's voice in the international community. 

“The Prime Minister's position has evolved, linking Lebanon's fate to Gaza’s,” Hankach said in an interview with MTV.

“Never before were we in a standstill situation.We were the only ones who had nominated a presidential candidate, while the other team was disrupting the quorum and casting a blank vote throughout 11 presidential elections sessions,” he noted.

He confirmed that the opposition continues with the same pressure and pace.

“We, as the opposition team, have visited 5 capitals to push the international community to understand that Lebanon has reached complete collapse, and the failed state cannot persist,” he explained.

Hankach pointed out that the keys to the parliament lies in the hands of House Speaker Nabih Berri, who decides when to call for an election session according to the interests of the party he belongs to.

He referred to the saying “our candidate or presidential vacuum" and the result of this proposition manifested in the election of Michel Aoun as president. 

“Aoun at that time, enjoyed parliamentary and popular majority. I am proud that we, as Kataeb Party fought honorably and rejected that settlement and we still do,” Hankach noted.

Hankach indicated that the opposition nominated MP Michel Mouawad as its presidential candidate, and later there was a consensus on Minister Jihad Azour.

“In 2017, the Kataeb Party filed an appeal against the taxes imposed at that time to finance the salary as we believed that it would lead to collapse. We presented solutions, including raising oversight to curb smuggling and raising state revenues from smugglers and tax evaders, rather than increasing burdens on citizens,” he stated.

“We need to protect companies, factories and investors in Lebanon to safeguard our economy and keep it productive,” he said.

"It is not permissible to raise taxes and costs on investors because if we do so we will be pushing them towards immigration, “he explained.

“Is it not shameful what is happening to the families of the victims of Beirut port explosion? How can lawyer Pierre Gemayel be wanted by the judiciary and those wanted for interrogation in the Beirut port file obstruct the course of justice?” Hankach asked.

He called on the Lebanese judiciary to restore people's confidence by standing with justice away from political parties.

“We refuse to remain in a presidential vacuum. Let the other team appeal to the Constitution and let the House Speaker call for successive sessions to elect a president,” he asserted.

He considered that contemporary history has not witnessed a massacre like the one happening in Gaza with 27,000 killed since the beginning of the war, pointing out that the people in Gaza are paying the price like other areas controlled by Iranian proxies.

“All political and diplomatic support is acceptable to the people in Gaza. We completely refuse to let Hezbollah link Lebanon to Iran's agenda in the ongoing war, while Tehran negotiates on a much larger scale at the expense of people losing their lives,” he stressed.

“The Lebanese state today is hijacked by Hezbollah, but it is the only one that represents the Lebanese people and the decision of war and peace lies in its hands,” he affirmed.

 He clarified that Lebanon has a caretaker government, which is the best under the circumstances, and there are those externally funded.

“No one protects us except the Lebanese army, and once again, the Lebanese people bear the cost of others' wars on their land, regardless of the legitimacy of the cause. Hezbollah's illegal weapons must be handed over to the state,” Hankach affirmed.

“We condemn the campaigns of defamation and vilification targeting Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, who is enduring the ugliest attacks,” he concluded.