Gemayel Holds Onto Election of New President, Blames Local Parties for Extending Vacuum

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel insists on boycotting parliamentary sessions until lawmakers elect a new head of state, holding local parties responsible for the ongoing vacuum at the Baabda Palace and undermining the foreign factor.

“Each side considers itself right,” Gemayel said in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday.

He noted that the “parliamentary extension is a natural result of an abnormal course that started in 2013.”

The political deadlock in Lebanon deepened after lawmakers voted once again to delay elections and announced they would extend their mandate until 2017, which was met by a huge popular dismay.

The extension session was boycotted by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's lawmakers and the Kataeb party, which is affiliated to the March 14 alliance.

The lawmakers, who voted in favor of the draft-law, argue that security developments and the fear of another power vacuum compelled the extension.

Gemayel hinted to al-Akhbar that Aoun and his allies are mainly behind the ongoing presidential vacuum, saying: “The parliamentary bloc and alliance that cause lack of quorum in sessions set to elect a new head of state hit the democratic course that was stated by the Lebanese constitution and the international norms.”

Lebanon has been without a head of state since May, when President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended without a successor over differences between the March 14 and 8 alliances on a compromise candidate.

The Christian leader, whose party boycotted the parliament's extension session despite the attendance of his March 14 allies, said that it would be easy to blame foreign factors for the political deadlock in the country, “but simply some lawmakers boycotted the presidential sessions on purpose and prevented the election of a new head of state.”

“Whatever their justifications are... Their behavior is unacceptable and undermines the credibility of the state institutions.”

Gemayel expressed fear over the “catastrophic repercussions of the ongoing vacuum on the country's security, political and financial stability.”

“There are no compelling security fears that prevent 128 lawmakers from reaching the parliament” to elect a new president.

He described the election of a new president as a “priority,” saying that the current vacuum violates “partnership and the constitution.”

“We are facing a deadly political teasing amid the local and regional developments,” the Kataeb leader said.

H.K.

G.K.