Gemayel Opposes Amending the Constitution, Calls for Timely Presidential Election

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel called on Monday for holding the presidential election on time, rejecting any attempt to amend the constitution.

"We support holding the presidential election on time and we are against amending the constitution,” Gemayel stressed at a press conference after the Phalange political bureau's weekly meeting.

He continued: “We cannot afford the postponing of the presidential election and we cannot go through this amid the absence of a cabinet.”

“We will do everything we can in collaboration with other factions to form a cabinet and secure the presidential election.”

The former president considered that forming a cabinet has become an “urgent” matter.

"We call on President Michel Suleiman and premier-designate Tammam Salam to form a cabinet that answers people's demands,” he said.

Gemayel pointed out that the Phalange party, from the beginning, has demanded a rescue cabinet.

"But we are not against any other proposal submitted by Salam,” he noted, rejecting all preconditions to the cabinet's formation.

He added: “The Baabda Declaration is the basis for the cabinet's formation and everything else is debatable with the premier-designate.”

The political bureau also tackled the Indonesian boat tragedy, lamenting the “misery” that forces the Lebanese to migrate.

But the Phalange leader remarked that while there is misery on one side, on the other, however, “Lebanon is proud that its national Dr. Gabriel Gharib was chosen as the best cardiologist in France.”

“Lebanon's is losing the great potentials of its people and migration is the indication,” Gemayel expressed.

Capital, a French magazine, chose Gharib as the best cardiologist in France among 200,000 doctors in the country.

What made Gharib, who hails from the Beirut neighborhood of Rmeil, stand out in medicine was his achievement of being able to conduct a coronary artery bypass operation without resorting to medical hypnosis.

Gemayel lashed out at the current caretaker cabinet, counting various problems Lebanon is suffering from.

“The cabinet is not functioning and we have a parliament's whose mandate has been extended. The security situation is deteriorating and all of this is at the expense of the Lebanese's interests and of the economic situation. Security affects the economy and we are not dealing with this problem from its roots but trying to temporarily calm the symptoms.”

He continued: “Another problem is that of the new wage scale, in addition to the refugees' crisis. We care about doing all required efforts towards refugees but we have duties towards the Lebanese as well.”

“This situation is intolerable.”