Suleiman Urges Formation of Govt. to Hold Presidential Elections Even if it Doesn't Enjoy Confidence
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
President Michel Suleiman stressed on Monday that the presidential elections will be staged as scheduled in spring 2014.
He therefore demanded the “formation of a government that can hold the elections, regardless if it does not enjoy parliament's confidence.”
He rejected however the formation of a “de facto government.”
Suleiman's six-year term ends in May, but there are fears that the differences between the March 8 and 14 camps would lead to a vacuum in the country's top post.
Addressing demands to hold a cabinet session to tackle the petroleum file, Suleiman said: “This issue alone is not enough to convene government.”
“I have not yet received a request from caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati to call cabinet to session,” he revealed.
Moreover, he remarked that convening parliament to extend the term of any official “is not justified.”
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed on Monday all-out support for the cabinet to hold a session to tackle the delicate situation in the country and the petroleum file.
Miqati had told several newspaper on Monday that he is mulling to hold a cabinet session after Lebanon remained without a new government for more than seven months, and he did not rule out putting two controversial oil decrees on its agenda.
He added that oil and gas exploration was at the top of the priorities list.
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil had been urging him to invite ministers for a session to approve two decrees that call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.
Delays in issuing the decrees could postpone offshore drilling and exploration.
The main point of contention lied in Miqati who argued that the constitution did not authorize him to hold a session for that purpose and insisted that it lacked political consensus.
09 December 2013, 14:36
23
Recently, our good-for-nothing president-by-parachute has been very busy with almost daily addresses revolving over giving advice on how best to reach a stalemate vis-a-vis electing a president (hopefully electing one this time and not having another useless and unqualified nobody fall on us by parachute). Expect more of the same "I know what's good for... well... umm... duh... me??? at the expense of the rest of the worthless you" advice by president Arreet 7akeh.
09 December 2013, 20:15
00
You mean the traitor who went dabdabeh arms before legs to Syria after selling the country to Israel before Syria? alla yer7amak ya bassel
09 December 2013, 15:12
33
This man was a general in the lebanese armed forces so please grant him some respect , what do you expect him to do when none of the politicians can agree on a single thing to help the country go forward i wish this president had his tenure when lebanon was in better shape but unfortunately his 6 years are being judged unfairly i believe no man could have done a better job in the circumstances
09 December 2013, 16:56
13
@FT : Hezb alienated themselves when they decided to go ROGUE on Lebanon and set up their own state ! The only thing your MOU did is provide them with cover basically meaning you traded your own country for a semblance of "power" you will never obtain through popular vote !
09 December 2013, 17:21
14
@FT : I'm more lebanese than any one of you pricks. I'm Christian married to a Muslim and we both piss on your religions ... what does that tell you ?
This doesn't change the fact that Lebanese are divided and sects is the main factor of division. Way before social class and wealth!
So do not teach me how to think Lebanese. I'm way more Lebanese than you pro-syrians and pro-iranians who put these countries interest above ours !
09 December 2013, 17:26
22
@FT: Go take your assumptions you have about me and storytell them to Aoun so he can sleep better at night.
You're a joke... a cheap joke which is not even funny anymore.
If you have nothing to say. Shut up... no need to tell yourself stories to make you feel better.
How about you tell me where you were on March 14 ? Begging for Syria to stay in Lebanon ??? What happened to the causes your were fighting for ?
Oh right ... you were not fighting... you were cheering unconditionally to your leader's BS without even caring what he was saying. He could be fighting for one side or the other and you still follow him unconditionally. This is what we call sheep ! LOYAL Sheep and this is a compliment !
09 December 2013, 18:09
21
"what do you know of emile lahoud"
yes he covered the syrian invasion a certain 13 octobre which led to the massacre we all know and was praised by aoun when he was president...
09 December 2013, 19:04
11
Before they deleted your stupid comment, you were accusing me of being sectarian.
Anyway, I'm way more patriotic than people who need to name their party "Free Patriotic Movement" to remind the people that despite their allegiance to anything but Lebanon, they have the intention of being "patriotic".
Same as people who need to use "Resistance" on their flags to appear as a legitimate resistance when people fail to read they are an ISLAMIST RESISTANCE.
Your BS of a flag and name of your party does not make you patriotic. Your comments show you're far from patriotic.
And my personal life proves that I'm more lebanese than you Aounies who are actually more racists than anything else. I don't see you mingling with Hezbollah or REAL SHIITES, joining in their prayers, celebrations and wars... no more than you do with Sunnis.
09 December 2013, 19:06
11
And instead of evading my questions like always, you "brave warrior".
I repeat my question :
"How about you tell me where you were on March 14 ? Begging for Syria to stay in Lebanon ??? What happened to the causes your were fighting for ?"
09 December 2013, 15:53
56
HA is fighting in Syria to ensure it is not geographically cutoff from Iran and it can continue receiving smuggled weapons and whatever else, unimpeded and with total disregard for law and order.
Repeating a lie a million times does not change the facts to suit your propaganda. Heart eating savages are rejected by all Lebanese and all Lebanese will fight them with rocks if we have to should they decide to bring their ideology of jihad and hate to Lebanon.
09 December 2013, 15:59
23
it appears that the next president won't be handpicked by Syria, but rather by Iran. courtesy of the current illegitimate governement.
09 December 2013, 17:02
14
@Southern : You don't fight opposing ideologies by killing your opponents. This always failed ! This failed with the rise of Christianity and Islam. This failed with the church fighting heretics on ideas like the "world is round" and the solar system is "heliocentric".
You can kill off all your ennemies but their ideology will remain. It's a never ending war.
The only way to fight them is through reason. By preventing hatred from arising. By preventing ignorants from falling prey to rotten Sheikhs just like you fell prey to Hassan Nasrallah.
The only result of your war will be to fuel more hatred and have more and more opponents fight you !
You can only solve the problem through Social Change, eliminating religious leaders (Shiite, Sunni, Christian) and EDUCATION !
09 December 2013, 17:44
14
@FT : this is a baseless accusation. Show me the fighters please do ...
And even if they do, then they are fighting a hopeless war because Shiite hatred against Sunnis is just as strong. Both are ignorant sheep anyway... I only wonder why ignorant christians fight their wars with them... a war that will lead to their doom anyway because the only result is fueling sectarianism and hatred.
Christians are the only ones who can salvage this country not by taking sides but by creating a third option. They are just too dumb to see it because they are like any other arab, sheep of their own leaders be it Aoun or Geagea ...
09 December 2013, 18:38
21
Sleiman has no power to cause his successor to be elected. This is all in the hands of Berri, as Speaker to convene Parliament for this purpose. If Berri fails to act, then the office will go vacant, along with the PM, Council of Ministers and Parliament, all of which are currently operating with expired mandates.
The key to elections remains Hezbollah. If they want them, then they will happen, if not, then Berri will in no way cross Hezbollah to get the election of a President that Hezbollah does not want. Berri does not want Aoun, and so the political inertia is that there will be no election in May.
09 December 2013, 18:38
22
There is nothing in the Lebanese constitutional system that requires actors to act. There is every incentive in the system to justify their inaction. Respect for the constitution becomes relevant only when in its observance, the private interests of the advocate is advanced, otherwise, the Constitution is ignored by these players who have no loyalty to the government, the State or the Republic that supersedes their own personal private interests.
09 December 2013, 21:31
11
Le petite generale will never see Baabda precisely because he has sold his soul to Iran/Syria. It is a symptom of the broken political process in Lebanon that KSA or Iran, or Syria or the US or France "selects" the Lebanese president rather than the people of Lebanon. The People of Lebanon hold no veto over who shall be their president. They have bartered that right to others so as to secure patronage money which keeps them well heeled in Rabiah, Bekfaya, Maarab and Zgorta
09 December 2013, 18:40
52
Poor Suliman! Kinda lost the race buddy. Short visionaries in politics is a No! No! Unless you think of yourself as a protected agent of Saudis. Well, not sure you fit the criteria. Unlike the permanent agent Samir Geagea, you, Mr. President, did not blow up churches: at least of yet. To become an agent now days, the bar has been risen. For non-Saudi national: you need to blow up at least one church and kill at least 500 Christians. For Saudi Nationals, the requirements are, let me do the math, 3,300 infidels Americans divided by 17 Saudi nationals: Ok: 195 work-goers.
09 December 2013, 18:56
22
I see fighters in SYria alright ... just not Mustaqbal fighters. Only you are dumb enough to make such an allegation and confuse sunni fighters for mustaqbal.
Not all sunnis are mustaqbal. Not all sunnis are terrorists either just like not all shiites are hezbollah.
You should fit this in your tiny head. I know there isn't much space with all the crap they fed you but the logic is quite simple.
09 December 2013, 20:43
00
yalla. five bore months and this useless unqualified nobody will become the same useless unqualified ex-nobody.
09 December 2013, 21:06
21
Half of us are not free. We have guns pointed at our heads dictating to us the path of our country and the choice of how and when we go to war and who to be friends with. HA is our overlord, it is HA's way or the highway. Khalas ba2a akl hawa and do7k 3al d2oun. Half of are slaves held hostage at gunpoint. Make no mistake, HA and Al-Qaeda are two sides of the same coin. We reject both of you equally. And just for the record there were no bombings in Dahyeh and the Irani embassy before your intervention in Syria. I guess the heart eating Cannibals woke up one day and decided that Iraq, Egypt and Libya and Syria are not vast enough for their operations and decided to expand to Lebanon. Please stop the condescending insults to our intelligence already.
