Presidential Vacuum Threatens Fate of Cabinet, Parliament Sessions

The rival political arch-foes are mulling their participation in cabinet and parliamentary sessions after the expected vacuum at the helm of the country's top Christian post.

Al-Marada movement, a March 8 alliance affiliated party, rejected to join an expected decision by the Free Patriotic Movement to boycott the cabinet sessions.

“The party refuses to topple the cabinet and take a step into the unknown,” sources close to al-Marada movement told al-Joumhouria.

The FPM is currently discussing a move to boycott cabinet sessions after the end of President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure on Saturday to protest the political arch-foes' failure to elect a successor.

The party's officials are “still discussing the positive and negative aspects of such a move, especially, if the Marada movement, Tashnag and the rest of the March 8 ministers didn't follow suit.”

The FPM argues that “such an endeavor will be meaningless if its allies didn't support it.”

For his part, Telecommunications Minister and March 14 official Butros Harb told the newspaper that the “coalition will discuss in the upcoming 48 hours its stance from vacuum and ways to deal with it.”

“The March 14 Christian ministers will not withdraw from the cabinet to avoid taking the country into vacuum,” Harb expected.

However, he pointed out that the alliance, in particular the Christian parties, reject to attend the parliament sessions as long as there is no president.

Meanwhile, Kataeb Party, which is a key ally in the March 14 coalition, has reportedly decided to attend all parliamentary sessions set to discuss the presidential deadlock only after the end of Suleiman's term.

Sources close to the Lebanese Forces told al-Joumhouria that the party will follow suit.

The Christian parties' plan to boycott legislative sessions after parliament failed to elect a new president Thursday in the fifth round of polls that was seen as a last-ditch effort to pick a new head of state before the end of Suleiman's term.

But Speaker Nabih Berri is holding onto parliament's legislative role, saying: “I don't want to create a precedence that would contribute to the paralysis of the parliament and its role under various excuses, including the vacuum in the presidency.”

The election could not take place because the majority of the March 8 alliance's lawmakers boycotted the session.

Berri reiterated that he would call on MPs to attend a session at any time that rivals agree on a consensual candidate.

H.K.

D.A.