Judge Suleiman Denies Coming under Political Pressure over Parliament Extension
The head of the Constitutional Council, Judge Issam Suleiman, denied on Thursday coming under political pressure over the challenges against the extension of parliament's four-year mandate.
“Everybody knows well that I am not the type that is influenced by any pressure,” Suleiman told As Safir newspaper.
“I am not ready to sacrifice my convictions, credibility and dignity” in return for favors, he said.
The council failed on Wednesday for the second day in a row to meet to issue a decision on a report drafted by Suleiman on two petitions filed against the 17-month extension of the legislature's term.
Three judges – two Shiites and one Druze – boycotted the meetings to prevent a quorum, a sign of political interference.
The challenges were made on June 1 and 3 respectively by President Michel Suleiman and the Change and Reform bloc of Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun.
Judge Suleiman denied accusations that he was following the president's orders to accept the challenges and rule against the extension.
“I have immunity. I refuse coming under the pressure of either the president or Michel Aoun or the Maronite Patriarch,” he said.
“I am also not a dictator … The three members should have attended (the meetings) and expressed their viewpoints,” Suleiman told As Safir. “But it's their own problem if they have been politically influenced.”
“Besides I don't own anyone anything because I haven't asked the president to be appointed a member of the Constitutional Council or its head,” he said.
Suleiman also denied that he had collaborated with the president by drafting his report before the petition was issued on June 1.
“I referred my report five days after the president filed his petition on the extension law,” he said, stressing that the swift move came over his race against time.
If the council fails to issue a ruling on the extension by June 20 – the date the parliament's term expires – then the law becomes valid and the parliamentary elections would be held in November 2014.
The council's next meeting is Tuesday.
The absence of the three judges on Tuesday and Wednesday was a clear sign of political interference and an attempt by several officials, mainly Speaker Nabih Berri, the Hizbullah leadership and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat, to prevent the council from issuing a decision on the petitions.
The approval or the rejection of the challenges requires the go-ahead of seven out of the council's half-Christian half-Muslim members. Plus the body cannot vote without a quorum of eight members.
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