Aoun Calls for Local Agreement on New President, Suggests New Consultations by Salam
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has advocated the election of a president away from foreign intervention and advised Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to launch a new round of consultations with parliamentary blocs.
“There should always be a first time. Currently there are a lot of crises and no one's thinking about us. So we should elect the president internally,” Aoun told al-Akhbar daily in an interview published on Thursday.
President Michel Suleiman “was appointed in Doha and the initiative was made by the Arab League and its secretary-general,” he said, adding “it was not the Lebanese balance that made the president.”
Asked how the rival parties would be able to agree on the next head of state if they have so far failed to form a new government, Aoun said: “Our laws are wrong.”
“Is it possible for a premier-designate to work for six months without any deadline?” he wondered.
Aoun called for an amendment to certain constitutional deadlines such as setting 45 days for the formation of the government.
The FPM chief, who leads the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, suggested for Salam to hold a new round of consultations and visit him in Rabieh. “We have coffee and lemonade,” he joked.
“If he wants to propose something new, then he should launch a new round or invite us for new consultations at the parliament,” Aoun said.
The MP blamed conditions and counter-conditions set by the rival parties on Salam's failure to form a cabinet since his appointment in April.
“They don't want to respect our force and presence and the PM-designate says he wants to form the government the way he wants it to be,” Aoun said about his rivals in the March 14 alliance and Salam.
The March 8 coalition, which Aoun's FPM is part of, has been asking for veto power, saying its members should be represented in the government in accordance to their parliamentary weight.
Turning back to the presidential elections next year, Aoun stressed that a new head of state should be chosen even if the bickering sides failed to agree on the new cabinet.
“The election cannot be paralyzed,” he said over fears that the differences between the two alliances would lead to a vacuum in the presidential post.
Suleiman's six-year term ends in May 2014. He has stressed that he rejects any extension of his mandate.
Asked about who is seeking to get a seat in the top post, Aoun said: “We still don't know who the candidates are. My name is being mentioned but I can't say that I am a candidate.”
On the parliamentary crisis, Aoun said his bloc has launched consultations to resolve the crisis on a legislative session that has been postponed several times over lack of quorum.
“There is a new stage and there should be a new agenda,” he told al-Akhbar about the speaker's continuous call for sessions to discuss 45 items.
“Dialogue with Speaker Nabih Berri has resumed and we will hold talks with everyone about this issue so that there would be no unilateral decision,” Aoun said.
“If these discussions succeed, then we can go back to discuss the cabinet issue,” he said.
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