Saniora: Miqati's Proposal Does Not End the Political Deadlock

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora noted on Friday that Prime Minister Najib Miqati's recent proposal over the resignation of the government does not help ease the political crisis in Lebanon.

He said during a press conference from his Sidon office: “Miqati's proposal does not end the political deadlock, but it only adds new conditions to resolving it.”

The premier had proposed on Thursday that the cabinet resign once an agreement is reached over a parliamentary electoral law.

He added that the new government that would be formed after it would be charged with overseeing the parliamentary elections.

Saniora remarked that Miqati had made similar proposals in the past.

Addressing the recent clashes in the northern city of Tripoli, he voiced his rejection of Miqati's claims that had the army not deployed in the city an Islamic state would have been formed in the area.

“What emirate is he speaking of?” he wondered.

“Who halted the deployment of the army?” he asked.

The Mustaqbal Movement and others had been demanding for months that the army deploy in Tripoli, asserted the former premier.

Saniora wondered whether Miqati's statements fall in favor of Syrian claims that Tripoli is a hub of extremists.

Addressing Miqati, he asked: “Are you attempting to tarnish the city's image for some political gains?”

On the Syrian regime's arrest warrants against former Premier Saad Hariri, Mustaqbal MP Oqab Saqr, and Syrian opposition member Louay al-Meqdad, Saniora said: “The warrants have no legal or political basis.”

“The tactics of the Syrian regime will not yield any results,” he added.