Lebanese Election Postponed For 10th Time
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Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri postponed, until December 29, a session of Parliament to elect Lebanon's next president, his press office announced on Friday evening. The speaker 'has decided to postpone until December 29 the session that was scheduled for Saturday,' a statement said.
For the 10th time in three months, lawmakers had been due to meet in order to elect a new president but hopes for a breakthrough were dashed after Lebanon's rival political camps failed to reach an agreement over pending matters.
The country has been without a president since Emile Lahoud's term expired on November 23 without an agreement on a successor by rival camps.
Meanwhile, pessimism prevailed over Lebanon's political scene on Friday, with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir saying that 'the presidency is now forever lost.'
'The presidency is lost and we have not been able to elect a head of state for the first time in the history of the republic, Parliament has been crippled for more than a year and the government is [incapacitated],' he added in his Christmas address
Both sides have agreed in principle to elect the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), General Michel Suleiman, as a consensus president, but they remain at odds on several issues, including: how to amend the Constitution to allow a senior public servant to become president; who would lead a new government; and how many Cabinet seats each camp would get - particularly the opposition's demands to be given them enough seats to veto major decisions.
Christian opposition leader MP Michel Aoun told reporters Friday there would be no vote Saturday 'because there is no agreement and all lines of dialogue are broken.' The lawmakers also have to pass a constitutional amendment, since the current rules bar a sitting army chief from becoming president.
'Nothing important has happened in the past few days, except the pro-government party's rejection to negotiate with us, which reflects their will to prolong the vacuum,' Aoun said after a meeting with his parliamentary bloc.
He reiterated the opposition's will to make efforts to reach a solution that would not lead to a new problem.
Commenting on charges against the opposition for proposing pre-conditions, Aoun said: 'We are not putting forth conditions but calling for the restoration of rights ignored by this government and its predecessors.'
He also slammed foreign interference in Lebanese issues.
'Once foreign powers stop interfering in Lebanon's domestic affairs, we will be able to reach an agreement over the presidency,' Aoun said.
Hizbullah lashed out Friday at US President George W. Bush for urging Lebanon's anti-Syrian lawmakers to push through their own choice for president if need be to resolve the country's long political deadlock.
Hizbullah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said in a statement Friday that the US leader's 'orders' will not be implemented in Lebanon.
In a news conference Thursday, Bush called on Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon's politics and said that if the Lebanese Parliament fails to meet a two-thirds quorum needed to elect a president, then the Western-backed majority lawmakers should elect their own candidate.
'The March 14 coalition can run their candidate and their Parliament; majority plus one ought to determine who the president is. And when that happens, the world ought to embrace the president,' Bush said.
'Bush still thinks he can bet again on achieving some gains for America and Israel in Lebanon, despite consecutive and accumulated failures in the region,' Qassem said, apparently referring to US policies in Iraq and the war with Israel in the summer of 2006.
'Bush announced the bad news and gave his direct orders to his group in Lebanon to violate the Constitution,' Qassem said. 'At a time when the Lebanese are trying to reach an accord, he is trying to create problems between them.'
On a visit to Lebanon this week, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch accused the opposition of obstructing the vote for the country's top post by boycotting Parliament sessions and setting conditions for the future government.
Lebanese Forces boss Samir Geagea said the March 14 Forces are expected to ask the government to send a constitutional amendment bill to Parliament in the hopes that Berri 'would shoulder responsibility and hold elections.'
He told BBC radio Thursday that March 14 was not yet considering electing a president by a simple majority 'because our candidate is General Suleiman.'
Geagea stressed that the majority 'has several alternatives, but our basic option at present is bringing Suleiman to the presidency because the characteristics of a consensus president fit him most ... This doesn't mean that if the year ends without elections that the chance is lost.'
Speaking during an LAF event in Kesrouan on Thursday, Suleiman urged the military 'to stay way from the ongoing political bickering.'
'I impress upon you to stay away from politics and display an objective attitude,' the general said. |
