FPM Urges Election of 'Strong Christian President'
Senior officials of the Free Patriotic Movement and key members of the Change and Reform bloc demanded on Friday that an end be put to the extension of the term of state agencies and figures.
“We demand the election of a strong Christian president," they said in a statement read by MP Ibrahim Kanaan.
They made their remarks after a conclave held at the Deir al-Kalaa country club in Beit Mery.
They also rejected the extension of the term of President Michel Suleiman, lamenting that they had to hold the conclave in light of the extension of parliament's term due to the political parties' failure to reach an agreement over an electoral law.
“Lawmakers are responsible towards the people and the areas they represent,” they declared, while demanding that an agreement be reached over a new electoral law.
Parliamentary elections that were scheduled for June were consequently postponed as a result of the ongoing dispute over the electoral law.
They are set to be staged in November 2014.
The FPM and Change and Reform bloc blamed the rival political powers' disputes for the failure to stage the elections, saying that parliamentary work should be separated from political interests.
They therefore announced that they decided to form a number of committees aimed at tackling pending issues, adding that they will hold talks with all political powers in order to propose their initiative to end Lebanon's deadlock.
They demanded that a number of pending issues in Lebanon be resolved, most notably the approval of decrees linked to oil and gas exploration.
“The exploration of offshore oil and gas reserves should be sufficient reason to hold an extraordinary cabinet session,” they noted.
Moreover, they said: “Balance between various political institutions should be achieved through increasing the authority of the president.”
Commenting on the state of Christians in the region, the FPM and Change and Reform bloc said: “Christians are being oppressed in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.”
“The fate of Christians in the East is linked to that of the Muslims,” they added
They therefore called for joint Christian-Muslim cooperation to stand against religious oppression.
“The weakening of the role of Christians will eventually result in their elimination from Lebanon,” they warned.
Earlier on Friday, FPM leader MP Michel Aoun accused caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati of escaping his responsibilities rather than calling for a cabinet session to approve oil drilling decrees.
“Our natural resources should be used for development and not the division of shares. They neither belong to certain people nor to certain sects,” he said.
Two decrees are yet to be approved to award tenders for offshore oil and gas exploration. Their approval would designate Lebanon’s 10 offshore blocks for exploration and determine the model for revenue sharing.
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