Change and Reform To Attend Electoral Session 'Only if Circumstances Change'
Former Minister Salim Jreissati announced on Tuesday that the Change and Reform bloc MPs would not attend Thursday's session at the parliament to elect a new president if the same circumstances surrounding talks on the anticipated vote persisted.
“If the same circumstances persist, we will not attend Thursday's parliamentary session,” Jreissati said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting.
“And in case things change towards consensus, which we are looking for through dialogue and communication, we will be there at the parliament,” he added.
He explained that a consensual president is one who is capable of “joining together the country's factions and represent them in the best way.”
“He should also have the requirements of the Constitution's Article 49,” the former minister stated.
While MP Michel Aoun's bloc stressed its rejection of obstructing the work in the state's institutions, it noted, however, that lawmakers also reject elections that “harm the National Pact and the Lebanese political formula.”
The released statement said: “The bloc discussed the so-called quorum obstruction at the parliament to elect a new president, and we know that the people are now aware that this is not obstruction but we are holding onto the National Pact.”
“We were the first to reject the work suspension at the Constitutional Council, and the unconstitutional extension of the parliament's term,” the MPs remarked.
They will, however, be present at the parliament on Wednesday to listen to a letter by President Michel Suleiman addressed to the nation's lawmakers.
But Jreissati pointed out that Suleiman's message “came late.”
“It was absent at times when constitutional impasses prevailed in the country during his presidential term, and did not tackle the suspension of work at the Constitutional Council, but despite this we decided to exercise our political right and attend the session.”
The Parliament has repeatedly failed to elect a new president over differences between the March 14 and the March 8 coalitions.
The March 14 alliance has openly backed Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea for office, while their political foes have yet to announce their candidate.
But Aoun continuously said that he will not announce his candidacy for the presidency if there was no political consensus on him.
In the first electoral round, no nominee was able to gather the required number of votes to win the race. And quorum was not secured in the second, third and fourth rounds, which blocked the possibility of holding a voting session.
Speaker Nabih Berri has scheduled Thursday, May 22, 2014 as a date for the fifth round of votes.
S.D.B.
Y.R.
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