Aoun: Any Cabinet Breaching Constitution is Illegitimate, PM-Designate Must Resign after 10-Month Failure
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday warned that any cabinet line-up that does not respect the constitution and coexistence among the Lebanese would be considered “illegitimate.”
“Any cabinet formed in contravention of the constitutional, legal and coexistence norms – regardless of the intentions that pushed for its formation – will be illegitimate, and the bloc's stance will be decided accordingly,” Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabieh.
“The biggest violation that an official might threaten the Lebanese people with is the formation of a fait accompli cabinet,” Aoun added in a written statement, noting that PM-designate Tammam Salam must resign after he failed for 10 months to form a new cabinet.
Aoun accused Salam of not exerting “any effort to resolve the crisis” during that period.
“As we seek to reconcile all the components of the country, we sense that some parties are acting otherwise for unjustified reasons,” Aoun lamented.
He accused the PM-designate of “tampering with the standards that ensure a proper cabinet formation process.”
“Have those in charge forgotten that there is no constitutional legitimacy for any authority which contradicts coexistence in terms of marginalizing any component of the country's components?” Aoun added.
“This principle does not bear any exceptions or manipulation, because … it is a very critical principle under which any president, premier or official can be sacked and resisted should he be accused that his policies, stances and acts are creating sectarian divisions,” Aoun cautioned.
“It is our destiny to be always targeted during critical junctures when the issue is related to state institutions and our choice is to reject and confront the imposed situation in order to preserve the country and the state,” Aoun emphasized.
The FPM leader slammed “this behavior,” noting that “the toppling of the constitution has undermined the principles of good governance, impoverished people and accumulated debt.”
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has personally telephoned Aoun to resolve the last knot preventing the formation of the new all-embracing government, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday.
But Aoun's stance on the rejection of the 8-8-8 formula and the rotation of portfolios among sects has remained so far unchanged.
The FPM chief is rejecting to give up the energy and telecommunications portfolios that are part of his movement's share in the resigned government of caretaker Premier Najib Miqati.
An Nahar daily said that Salam will be informed on Tuesday about Aoun's final answer to the deal struck among the rest of the factions on the 24-member cabinet and the rotation of portfolios.
The newspaper said the countdown for the formation of the government starts on Tuesday as Salam holds onto the 8-8-8 formula and the concept of rotation.
Reports said that President Michel Suleiman and Salam could resort to a neutral government or an all-embracing cabinet excluding the FPM if Aoun remains adamant to reject the rotation of portfolios.
Source: Naharnet
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