BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Wednesday blasted MP Michel Aoun for considering Parliament “illegitimate,” saying the legislature is the master of its own decision and has extended its mandate twice. He said Aoun would consider Parliament legitimate only if he were elected president.
Hariri, who returned to Beirut Tuesday night from a private visit to Paris and Riyadh to attend Wednesday’s Parliament session to elect a president, signaled he was ready to meet with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah only after a new head of state is elected.
“This Parliament is legitimate. If Gen. Aoun says it is illegitimate, this does not make it so. If we elected Aoun as president, Parliament would have become legitimate in his eyes,” Hariri told reporters in Parliament shortly after it failed for the 37th time to convene over a lack of quorum.
“This Parliament is the master of its own decision and has extended its mandate twice,” he said.
Hariri was among the 62 lawmakers who showed up in Parliament, falling short of the two-thirds majority (86 of the 128 MPs) required for a quorum to convene the session.
The number of attending MPs was much lower than the 72 lawmakers who showed up for the March 2 session, the highest lawmaker turnout in nearly two years.
As in previous sessions, Aoun’s bloc, Hezbollah’s bloc and some of its March 8 allies thwarted a quorum with their continuing boycott. This prompted Speaker Nabih Berri, who was at his office in Parliament, to schedule a new session for April 18. “This is the 37th presidential election session and we came to exercise our constitutional duty to elect a president. But unfortunately, the obstruction [of the presidential vote] continues as in the past,” Hariri said.
“Speaker Nabih Berri and I believe that electing a president would resolve many crises in the country. The absence of some MPs shows that some want to disrupt the presidency and this is unacceptable,” he said. “We will continue to attend the parliamentary sessions and will continue to exercise our constitutional duty to elect a president. Those who are boycotting the sessions are responsible for all drawbacks in the country.”“This is a democratic country, with a constitution, and a president should be elected. We will continue our efforts in this regard.”
Hariri called on Free Patriotic Movement’s lawmakers to officially elect a president instead of taking their demands to the streets to force a change in the current political situation. “We hear that the Free Patriotic Movement wants to take to the streets. Instead of that, let them come to Parliament.”
Aoun, who is backed for the presidency by Hezbollah, some of its March 8 allies and the Lebanese Forces, warned in a speech last week against electing a new president who does not enjoy wide representation within the Christian community in line with the National Pact’s rules on power sharing between Muslims and Christians. He also called on his supporters in the FPM to be ready to take to the street to bring about a change in the current political situation.
Aoun’s remarks appeared to be directed at Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh who has been nominated for the presidency by Hariri as part of an initiative aimed at ending the 22-month long vacuum. Frangieh is also backed by Berri, MP Walid Jumblatt and some independent lawmakers.
The FPM founder slammed the extension of Parliament’s mandate twice since 2013, saying: “How can a Parliament that lacks legitimacy elect a legitimate president?”LF chief Samir Geagea, who achieved a historic reconciliation with Aoun in January, said his party was mulling its participation in the FPM’s planned street protests to exert pressure toward electing Aoun as president.
“We are discussing this and other options,” Geagea told Russia Today TV in an interview. Hariri, asked whether he was ready to reciprocate Nasrallah’s readiness to meet him, said: “I have said in my interview [with LBCI TV] that I am not against the idea. What concerns us is to elect a president and start a real dialogue to put an end to the ongoing problems and the risks facing the country. But the election of a president is a priority for me.”Asked if he would opt for a centrist candidate if rival regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which back opposing sides in Lebanon, decided to start a dialogue to improve their strained ties, Hariri said: “Saudi-Iranian dialogue is a dialogue between two countries that are at odds over several issues. There is no doubt that things would improve in the region.”“But in Lebanon, we have two candidates from the March 8 [coalition]. Sayyed Nasrallah has said that they won. So why don’t they celebrate this victory? We can elect one of these two candidates. So let them go to Parliament,” he added.
Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel, who attended the session with members of his bloc, slammed the continued failure to elect a president. “What shall I say? It’s a joke,” he said, while leaving the session.
Bomb blast kills soldier in north Lebanon: report
Reuters, Beirut Thursday, 24 March 2016/A Lebanese soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in northern Lebanon on Thursday, the National News Agency and a security source said. A second soldier in the same patrol was wounded in the explosion which took place near the town of Arsal close to the Syrian border, the source said, without giving further details. The army shelled positions of militants on Arsal’s outskirts after the blast, the source said. Islamist militants are active in the area near the Syrian-Lebanese border. Fighters from ISIS group and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front briefly overran Arsal in 2014 before withdrawing after clashes with the army. Nusra Front freed 16 Lebanese soldiers and policemen in December 2015 in exchange for jailed Islamists. It had captured the soldiers during the Arsal incursion in 2014. ISIS is believed to still be holding nine soldiers it captured.
