BIKFAYA, Lebanon — Samy Gemayel, a senior member of the Kataeb (Phalange) Party, is not counting on a new Lebanese president in May 2014, when the term of the current president, Michel Suleiman, ends.

“If the situation is as it is today, I don’t think that any president will be elected, because I have a feeling that Hezbollah does not want it,” said Gemayel, in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor at his home office in his village of Bikfaya. “Hezbollah does not want anything, any institutional body, to be working properly, so I think that in the current situation everything is blocked. So there is no reason why the presidency will be an exception.”

Gemayel, a member of parliament and the son of former Lebanese president and Phalange leader Amin Gemayel, turned 33 this month, but even at this young age, he is already making his mark on Lebanese politics. While a member of the March 14 Alliance, Gemayel also calls for Lebanese politicians to be free of regional alignments and has sometimes criticized his coalition allies on this point.

The Kataeb Party, Gemayel offered, has “proved how independent it is, from any kind of regional alliance. It’s a purely Lebanese party that doesn’t take orders from anyone and is able to take any decision that is in the interest of the country, without taking anything else into consideration.”