Suleiman Calls for Turning May 7 Session into Chance for Accord, Warns against Constituent Assembly

President Michel Suleiman on Sunday called for turning the May 7 presidential vote into an “opportunity for accord and dialogue, unlike what happened on May 7, 2008,” warning against “dragging the country into a constituent assembly.”

“As the end of my term approaches, the worrying possibilities are surfacing. Why should every power rotation opportunity be turned into an occasion for fear over vacuum and the unknown fate?” Suleiman said in a speech he delivered at the inauguration ceremony of the Michel Suleiman Sports Village in Jbeil.

“Those concerned with the survival of the entity and the political system must realize that the election of a president cannot happen through obstructing quorum, but rather through implementing the constitution,” he stressed.

The president called on MPs and political leaders to turn the May 7 parliamentary session to vote on a new president into “an occasion for accord and dialogue, unlike what happened on May 7, 2008.”

He was referring to the clashes that erupted that year, when gunmen belonging to Hizbullah and its allies swept through Beirut’s neighborhoods after the government of Fouad Saniora decided to dismantle the group's telecom network and sack airport security chief Brig. Gen. Wafiq Shqeir.

Suleiman warned that the current “consensus government” of Prime Minister Tammam Salam “cannot fill the vacuum in the absence of (a president, who is) the top regulator of the work of state institutions and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.”

“Do not suspend the vote and the constitution as you wait for an absent foreign agreement,” the president added, addressing lawmakers and leaders.

“We must interpret the constitution in a single manner ... Procrastination in the election of a new president poses a threat to the Lebanese entity and opens the door for dangerous scenarios,” he warned.

“Don't drag the country and its citizens into a constituent assembly that would topple the Taef Accord and equal power-sharing” between Muslims and Christians, Suleiman urged.

He said the country is in need for a president who would “represent accord, wisdom and the constitution, a president who would be able to manage Lebanese diversity, not one who manages foreign calculations and interests.”

Turning to the issue of the defense strategy and Hizbullah's controversial arsenal of weapons, the president stated: “I declare with full confidence that the nature of the state obliges it to possess all the elements of strength, the thing that must happen through the defense strategy, so that the army and only the army can defend the land.”

Suleiman also called for steering the country clear from regional conflicts and crises.

“I witnessed all forms of disputes, and today I'm deeply convinced of the need to keep Lebanon away from the conflicts of the region,” he said.

“I witnessed the attempt to break up and fragment the army and I witnessed its cohesion in its battles against the army and terrorism,” the president added.

During the first round of the presidential polls, 52 MPs from the March 8 alliance cast blank ballots, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea received the votes of only 48 MPs while 16 lawmakers voted for Aley lawmaker Henri Helou and one for Kataeb party chief ex-President Amin Gemayel.

The March 8 MPs later pulled out of the session, causing a lack of quorum. The same lawmakers, except for Speaker Nabih Berri's bloc, boycotted the second round of the elections.

The same scenario is expected to take place next Wednesday during the third round.

Y.R.