Berri Fears Presidential Vacuum, Says Some Sides Seeking Foreign Meddling in Polls
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his fears over vacuum in the presidency amid the ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a candidate, reported al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday.
He told the daily: “Vacuum will facilitate foreign meddling in the elections.”
“Some sides are possibly seeking this intervention,” he remarked.
Moreover, he warned that the possibility of vacuum is real should the upcoming presidential elections session fail.
A third round of the elections is scheduled for Wednesday.
The second round failed to be held on April 30 after the necessary quorum at parliament was not reached.
The March 8 camp, except Berri's Development and Liberation bloc, boycotted the session.
“I will weigh my options should the third presidential session fail,” stressed the speaker to al-Akhbar.
“So far, there are no encouraging signs that quorum will be met given the ongoing political divisions,” noted Berri.
He had warned on Monday that he would change his “classical” approach to the presidential polls if lawmakers failed again to elect a new head of state.
“I am so far dealing with the presidential elections in a classical way,” he explained.
He stressed that the Lebanese should take advantage of non-interference of foreign countries in the presidential polls, to elect a “made in Lebanon president.”
M.T.
03 May 2014, 10:36
23
Why cant you just come out and say that you guys are waiting for the foreigne medling. I know you are thinking it.
What a hypocrite!
03 May 2014, 10:49
22
patriot
hypocrite is an understatement. Pathetic, worthless, corrupt Mafioso is more like it. Be it him or the other so called politicians running this poor country
how sad!!
03 May 2014, 12:48
31
Coolmec, this game of delay tactics is one Berri will use till the void will be created. If only Suleiman can be persuaded to extend his term for another 3 years, then more trouble will be on the way, except if at the last moment Qahwaji is mandated.
03 May 2014, 14:26
12
Phoenix
Kahwaji is no good. He will be a lame president. he simply does not have the necessary knowledge to tackle Lebanon's immense problems more specifically the economy and the social state of affairs like the refugee crisis and unemployment. He strikes me as lacking the intelligence to handle such complex matters
03 May 2014, 18:18
11
Hi Coolmec, I cannot dispute your argument, but I felt that maybe a man who commands about 60K plus men could have the hand to rule. It's been a couple of months now that voices have been calling for technocrats to be mandated, but so far the reception remains lukewarm. I does surprise that many people in this country of ours still want people who were involved in the war, but now that these avenues have seemingly hit a dead end what options do we have to avoid the void?
03 May 2014, 14:57
21
funny how he complains about "foreign" meddling while accepting for decades the syrian meddling into all the presidential elections! LOL
double M8 standards at their best once again!
03 May 2014, 16:56
31
Yes, M8 is big on this and so is M14. Both sides should stop pointing fingers, I understand LF's alliance with Mustaqbal but M14 does have external... as well. What country doesn't have this problem though? Its politics. Its kind of a moot point.
03 May 2014, 18:06
21
Yes, he is correct. It is a common political ploy to make one's domestic political issues go regional or international if resolution locally seems not possible. Assad has gone regional and international to resolve his political failures in Syria. Left to his own devices against the local Syrian opposition, the Assad Regime would have fallen long ago, but regional assistance from Iran and Hezbollah and international assistance from Russia has staved off defeat of the Regime.
03 May 2014, 18:09
21
In Lebanon, if the locals cannot find a way to win by their own local devices, then sure, they make appeals to regional powers to solve their problems and the regional powers act because a vacuum in Lebanon tends to create regional problems.
And who is the main culprit engaged in such tactics. The ones who vote or the ones who vote blank papers, or who boycott electoral sessions? Or maybe the ones who threaten their local political adversaries with dire consequences unless their candidate is the "consensus"? We all know who this person and who these partisans are. It is Aoun of course and Hezbollah facilitates him knowing that their power and the power of their patron Iran will only grow as Aoun trades away more and more over his Quixotic quest for Baabda.
03 May 2014, 18:47
11
Berri Fears Presidential Vacuum, Says Some Sides Seeking Foreign Meddling in Polls................
You are so right Mr. Berri, the sides seeking vacuum are you M8 buddies who are preventing Quorum. And the only reason your MPs are attending is because you know they will not be enough to have Quorum and you look good still.
03 May 2014, 23:17
11
Josaphine: Iranian TV with "Head" of the Press in an interview with Lahoud: Your sources are an indication of who are you,,,, An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Lebanese person ... God bless our wise NaharNet Admins that Can Tolerate such people ...
If I added any thing more to Josaphine i will be guilty of making "her" feel important.
Again, Thank for this freedom Space.
