Parliament Fails to Elect President for Ninth Time as Berri Hopes Polls Won't Affect Cabinet
Parliament failed for the ninth time on Wednesday in electing a president due a lack of quorum.
Speaker Nabih Berri, who did not attend the session, set August 12 as the date for the tenth session.
Lebanese Forces MP Sethrida Geagea condemned the boycott, accusing lawmakers of obstructing the elections and violating their duties towards the people who elected them.
LF chief Samir Geagea is running in the elections.
He later slammed the March 8 camp for obstructing the election, saying during a press conference: “We have exerted all possible legitimate efforts to stage the polls. We will not surrender or despair.'
“The elections will be held. This may take time, but it is better than doing nothing,” he asserted.
“The other camp's mentality does not respect democracy, the country, people, presidency, and logic,” he added.
“We would not have been upset over the vacuum had there been legitimate reasons for it, however, obstructing the elections in this manner is unjustified,” he stressed.
Furthermore, he criticized the “insolence” of proposing a constitutional amendment at such a critical time.
“The constitutional amendment proposal is aimed at improving one's negotiation options,” Geagea said in reference to Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun's suggestion that the president be elected directly by the people.
“We could have held the elections and later addressed the constitutional amendment,” continued the LF chief.
Previous elections sessions were boycotted by the March 8 alliance's Loyalty to the Resistance and Change and Reform blocs due to a disagreement over a consensual nominee.
Earlier, Berri had voiced his keenness on the functioning of constitutional institutions, hoping that the vacuum in the presidency will not affect cabinet, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.
He told his visitors on Tuesday: “I am trying my best to separate the presidential vacuum and the obstruction of parliament sessions from the cabinet meetings.”
“Cabinet's role is not limited to serving the people's needs, but it has to tackle an urgent security situation,” he remarked.
“We therefore cannot accept any obstruction of government work,” stressed the speaker.
Asked about the presidential vacuum, Berri noted that no new development has been achieved in this issue.
The term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May.
M.T.
H.K.
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