Salam Weighs Call for Cabinet Session as Moqbel Faces Two Choices

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has not yet taken a decision to call for a cabinet session and is still evaluating the situations in light of the declared boycott of the Free Patriotic Movement of the government's meetings, a media report said on Sunday.

“Salam is holding up the decision on calling for a session pending the outcome of the series of contacts that he will hold once he returns to Beirut and, accordingly, the premiership has not yet distributed any agenda,” An Nahar newspaper quoted ministerial sources as saying.

Salam has tasked Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq with exploring the stances of the ministers on the issue of holding a session.

As for the thorny issue of the army chief post, the sources noted that Defense Minister Samir Moqbel is facing two choices in this regard.

“He can propose candidates during a cabinet session, although no candidate will be able to garner two thirds of the votes,” and he also can extend Qahwaji's term through a defense ministry decree “without the need for a cabinet session to be held,” the sources pointed out, noting that the first scenario seems more likely seeing as “holding a session is better than 'smuggling' the extension decision.”

A recent decision by Moqbel to extend the term of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir's term has been described as a “farce” by the Free Patriotic Movement.

The movement, which says it opposes term extensions for all senior officers, has recently suspended its participation in cabinet sessions in the wake of Moqbel's decision to extend Kheir's term.

The movement has also suspended its participation in national dialogue meetings and threatened street protests and a “political system crisis” over accusations that the other parties in the country are not respecting the 1943 National Pact that stipulates Christian-Muslim partnership.

Qahwaji's term has been extended twice since 2013 despite objections from the FPM, which had been reportedly lobbying for the appointment of former Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz as a successor to Qahwaji.

Roukoz is the son-in-law of FPM founder MP Michel Aoun.