President of the National Dialogue Party, MP Fouad Makhzoumi, visited the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rai, at the Patriarchal See in Bkerke to extend his greetings on the occasion of the festive season. He was accompanied by Dr. Saba Zreik, Vice President of the National Dialogue Party’s Administrative Board; Mr. Bernard Braidy, Vice President for Media Affairs at the Makhzoumi Group; adviser Dr. Carol Zouein; and members of the party’s Political Bureau, Dr. Roger Shweiri and Brigadier General Nicolas Salloum.
Following the meeting, Makhzoumi said the visit was intended to wish His Beatitude a happy New Year. He noted that the Patriarch had consistently spoken on behalf of the people and supported the October 17 uprising.
“We stand with him and encourage him to continue along this path, and we will remain by his side,” Makhzoumi said. He stressed that, during this difficult period, Lebanon’s spiritual and religious leaders should not take sides but should instead serve as a means of uniting the Lebanese people and helping fulfil their aspirations.
Government Formation and the Economic Crisis
Makhzoumi said they had discussed the situation in the country and the pressing economic and living-condition challenges that made it essential to accelerate the formation of a transitional rescue government. Such a government, he said, should be capable of confronting the financial and social crisis and preparing for early parliamentary elections.
He said that renewed talk of a “technopolitical” government represented a return to the familiar pattern of political settlements, deals, and the division of power and positions among political factions—a practice he rejected.
“Why the delay in forming a government of technocrats?” he asked.
He added that invoking the escalating regional crisis as a justification for the delay was also unacceptable and illogical, particularly since both sides in the international and regional conflict were speaking of settlements.
“We cannot consider what is happening in Baghdad or Syria a reason to return to the way things were before. Are we going back to dividing power and positions among the political establishment? We are pushing Lebanon into chaos and a vacuum,” he said.
Makhzoumi continued by warning that the October 17 uprising would hold the corrupt accountable and punish them, reiterating the slogan: “All of them means all of them.”
He stressed that the Lebanese people were suffering from a crisis that had reached their savings. They would not remain silent in the face of banking decisions that, on the one hand, undermined the free-market economy and, on the other, damaged the reputation of Lebanese banks, which had once been considered pillars of the national economy. Above all, he said, these measures were devastating the middle class on an alarming scale.
Power Outages and Beirut Municipality
Speaking as a representative of the Lebanese people and the residents of Beirut who had elected him, Makhzoumi conveyed widespread anger over the electricity outage affecting Beirut for three consecutive days, amid reports of a fuel shortage.
He questioned where the caretaker government was, accusing it of standing by as a spectator and failing to act on any of the serious issues facing the country and its people.
He also criticized Beirut Municipality, which had promised a project to provide electricity around the clock and had reportedly completed the project two years earlier.
“Why is the municipality wasting money on decorations and festivals funded by the pockets of Beirut’s taxpayers?” he asked.
He questioned why the municipality was not addressing the latest crisis and why it had failed to pursue genuine development and public-service projects that would benefit residents.
Makhzoumi concluded by urging everyone to work in the interests of the people who had elected them and to act in the best interests of Lebanon.