March 14 Will Stand against Anyone Seeking to 'Destroy Constitution'
The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Thursday the parliament's failure to elect a new president following the lack of quorum caused by the March 8 camp's boycott of the session, warning that vacuum in the presidency harms the country's state institutions.
It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “We will stand against anyone thinking of destroying the constitution or replacing it with another.”
It deemed the boycott as unconstitutional, noting: “A hundred thousand Lebanese Muslims and Christians died during the civil war to establish this constitution.”
“Harming it during the critical time of presidential vacuum is tantamount to a call for a new civil war,” said the General Secretariat.
“We will stand in the way of any side that believes it can change the constitution through the force of arms,” it stressed.
“The period of presidential vacuum is one of the most dangerous phases Lebanon has gone through,” added the March 14 forces.
Commenting on Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun's remarks that he wants to be part of an "integrated triangle" along with Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement, the General Secretariat said: “We would like to remind the Lebanese people that the Syrian regime under late President Hafez Assad tried to impose such a formula in Lebanon.”
“The Taif Accord however destroyed this equation and restored equal power-sharing among Muslims and Christians,” it explained.
“The Cedar Revolution then emphasized the importance of coexistence, achieving reconciliation among the Lebanese in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,” it continued.
“He was Sunni leader, but Lebanese people from all sects transformed him into a national symbol. An 'integrated triangle' would once again force the sects to close themselves off from each other,” it said.
Aoun remarked on Wednesday: “We should form an integrated triangle between Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, al-Mustaqbal Movement head MP Saad Hariri and I.”
"And we cannot dismantle this triangle,” he stated.
Parliament failed on Thursday to elect a president for the fifth time following a boycott by the majority of the March 8 camp over the ongoing differences with the March 14 alliance on a presidential candidate.
Speaker Nabih Berri has kept parliament sessions open-ended until Suleiman's term ends.
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