Al-Rahi Slams Cabinet Performance, Says Government Doesn't Replace President
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi criticized on Sunday the performance of the cabinet, stressing that the government should not carry its tasks presuming that the presidential vacuum is a “normal” crisis.
“The cabinet has no authority to carry out the jurisdiction of the head of state unless it was exercised according to consensus and without the creation of mechanism that violates the constitution,” al-Rahi said during a sermon at Bkirki.
In line with the constitution, the cabinet began exercising the president’s prerogatives after the parliament failed to elect a successor for Michel Suleiman, whose term ended in May last year.
The ministers agreed that all decisions should win a unanimous backing. But such a process hindered the government's work over the veto right that certain cabinet members began to exercise, prompting Prime Minister Tammam Salam to suspended cabinet sessions over the failure of the ministers to agree on changing the current mechanism.
The patriarch also slammed the violation of the constitution, the National Pact, and coexistence, pointing out that the offenses culminated with the failure to agree on a new presidential candidate.
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