Miqati Slams as 'Coup' Aoun's Proposal on Presidential Impasse
Former Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Monday lashed out at Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun's suggestion to end the presidential impasse, considering it a “coup.”
"The proposal put forward by General Michel Aoun to amend the constitution to elect a president by the people and to allow each sect to vote for its own MPs at parliament is a real coup,” Miqati said in a released statement.
He explained that the coup is not only against the Lebanese Constitution and the Taef Accord, but also against “the political path General Aoun has taken since returning to Lebanon and participating in all councils of ministers and parliamentary elections.”
"We call on General Aoun and all politicians who are keen on the country('s interests) to meet. Enough with disputes, divisions and fragmentation.”
Earlier in the day, Aoun held a press conference in which he said there should be a “limited constitutional amendment,” that allows the Lebanese citizens to elect the head of state in two rounds to avoid the same scenarios that parliamentary sessions are witnessing.
The Change and Reform bloc head said that his proposal lies in allowing only Christians to vote for their candidates in the first round.
The system than allows the polls to be held at the level of the entire nation to pave way for both Muslims and Christians to choose the two candidates who received the majority of votes in the first round.
Parliament has failed in several rounds to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman, whose six-year term expired on May 25 after the March 8 and 14 alliances failed to agree on a compromise candidate.
The majority of the March 8 camp's MPs, including the lawmakers of Aoun's Change and Reform bloc, have boycotted the sessions, leading to a lack of the needed two-thirds quorum.
S.D.B.
M.T.
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