Aoun Proposes a Two-Round Direct President Election
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun called on Monday for a constitutional amendment that would allow the people to elect their head of state in an attempt to resolve the presidential deadlock.
He said there should be a “limited constitutional amendment,” allowing Lebanese citizens to elect the head of state in two rounds to avoid the same scenarios that parliamentary sessions are witnessing.
Aoun's stance came during a press conference he held at his residence in Rabieh to launch an initiative aimed at salvaging the country.
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.
Aoun said that his proposal lies in allowing only Christians to vote for their candidates in the first round.
The system then 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.
The FPM chief has refused to announce his candidacy, claiming there should be consensus on him first. But the March 14 alliance, has backed the candidacy of his rival Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.
Both Maronite leaders claim that they represent the majority of the country's Christians.
Under the National Pact of 1943, the president should be a Maronite, the speaker a Shiite and the premier a Sunni.
Aoun said he backed the immediate election of a president. “But it wouldn't be a disaster if we stalled in choosing a head of state.”
He made an other initiative allowing each sect to elect its own MPs to "create justice" for all confessions.
He denied that such a law would lead to more confessionalism.
“Where is the real power-sharing in parliament? Where is the electoral law that achieves the true power-sharing and real representation?” he asked.
“Has the division of power mentioned in Taef Accord become mere ink on paper?”
“Everyone knows that there are gaps in the implementation of the Taef Accord,” the Change and Reform bloc chief said.
“Consecutive electoral laws have given Christians the right to elect only 17 of their MPs,” he added.
G.K.
M.T.
30 June 2014, 12:43
710
This clown should be ignored.
If that retard and his allies truly want to elect a president, they should cut the crap and send their MPs to the parliament to do their job.
And Southern, are you "fida sirmaiyit el syed" ?
30 June 2014, 13:00
48
Let the people also vote on whether hezbolla should keep their weapons
30 June 2014, 13:06
73
Lebanese Americans see Lebanon paralyzed by the party system, the vacuum of not having a President has a lot of negative affects on the State, as such Lebanon should elect a neutral President that is liked by all sides. The clear choice is General Jean Kahwaji.
General Jean Kahwaji for President of Lebanon 2014.
30 June 2014, 16:45
42
This is the french presidential system. Round one has as many candidates that sign up. The top 2 candidates that are most popular amongst christains then have a national, all citizen election. The winner is the presidant of the republic! Why not? General kahwajie could be a candidate and if he makes it pass the first round then good luck to him.
I like this chance for all Lebanese to elect their president with the christains deciding the final 2 candidates to represent them. The constitutional ammedment should be permanent and give the president power to dissolve the cabinet and call early general elections aswell.
30 June 2014, 13:19
126
It is shame to elect president in Lebanon who should have Saudi blessings.
It is shame that a progressive society like Lebanon is consulting with Saudi Arabia over electing its president.
A wise man once said, terror is not limited to send your boys on suicide mission; terror is by limiting brain activity using money and faith."
30 June 2014, 13:25
48
Bravo Aoun !
But how will you present yourself if you have no program ???
If you don't have a program and are confident people will vote for you, this can mean 2 things :
- The vote will be rigged
- Lebanese people are sheep and will vote for whoever their Za3im tells them to vote for
In this case, what's the purpose of the elections ?
Tell me again what your program is before suggesting to dilute Christian votes for their president from 50% to 30% !!!!!!!!!
30 June 2014, 14:42
45
He said he has no program and that "he is the program".
Just because Geagea announced a program, Aoun doesn't want to "sink" to his level and announce his :)
Stripping christians of their already non-existant priviledges is not a proposition.
The only way you can have the people vote directly for presidents in Lebanon is to start by abolishing all sectarian parties. I always said this.
I'm for his initiative ! but it has to be done right.
Everything Aoun has done so far is harm the position of christians in Lebanon. His alliance with HA, biggest proponents of the muthalatha (who even went so far as lying about france suggesting it when it was Iran) is a huge indicator of this.
Aoun does not serve the interests of christians !
30 June 2014, 16:52
33
Flame catcher... You talk about Aoun harming the position of the christains as if you are one. If the christains hate him, he will not survive the first round and it will proberbly be geagea and khawajie or boutros harb in the second round... Then even if aoun made it pass the first round he would not win the 2nd round. Let's agree that this is a good initiative that should be considered and pretend that hariri or geagea was first to announce it. No sect has anywhere near a voting majority and a direct election of our president is a good thing that gives the people the voice and removes political back room deals and foriegn influence.
30 June 2014, 18:15
32
anonymetexasusa... Who cares? If he wins after 2 rounds then he deserves it. He he doesn't then bad luck. The people will decide and this is democracy. Obama won with a majority... George bush won with out a majority. Different strokes of democracy. The USA have the college system and gw bush was one of only a very few presidents that won without a majority vote... How well did that go?
Why only look at a system that denies the candidate you like? If the people want him then respect their decision! You're already sounding like Rush Limbuagh and Hannity.
30 June 2014, 13:31
811
@Southern : You're one to talk about deaf ears. Get out of Syria as the people of Lebanon have requested or face the consequences of the wrath of the Lebanese people that will trample all over dahyé should another bomb go off.
The anger of Lebanese towards Hezbollah is stronger than any bomb and any of your weapons.
30 June 2014, 13:42
49
aoun is once again talking like this because of the upcoming MP elections :) he is once more playing the confessional game.
but what he does not know is that the Lebanese people will not fall once more in his trap: he can hope to be elected while most of his actual MPs will not be elected, and that according to the polls he has in his hands.
once more he is trying the sectarian game which will not be in his favor this time round.
30 June 2014, 14:05
34
popular vote for presidency will curb outside interferences and sterile political debates
and proportionality in parliamentary elections is the gateway to secularisme and real democracy
30 June 2014, 14:22
55
I'm no Aouni but what is wrong with this? We should do this for the speaker and premier too.
30 June 2014, 14:24
54
Aoun either has followers or he doesn't. My self I think Christians are 75 pct Geagea.
30 June 2014, 14:35
34
In theory this is an excellent proposal. In reality, the only true winners will be the bus drivers. They just got done bussing people from Lebanon to Syria to take part in the fair democratic election process in There...all they need to do now is to put ALL those "Lebanese" in Syria on the bus and bring them back to Lebanon....but all of us Lebanese living overseas..we'll that's a different stories. The wheels on the bus go round and round..what a joke!
30 June 2014, 14:39
83
The pharmacologically functioning senile is so obsesses with the presidency he does not comprehend that all presidents elected from the people have the total executive powers unlike the Lebanese president. His allies are the first to frown on the Maronite president getting the pre Taef powers back.
18/04/1989 بري: لن نقبل برئيس ماروني بعد الآن
30/06/1989 حزب الله يعلن الولاء المطلق لآية الله السيد علي خامنئي
01/09/1989 حزب الله يعلن حرب مفتوحة مع الموارنة معتبرا حملة عون على سوريا هي حملة لابادة المسلمين
21/09/1989 حزب الله : نرفض رئيسا مارونيا ونرفض الذل تحت اسم التعايش مع النصارى
13/10/1989 حزب الله : سنمزق اتفاق الطائف
20/10/1989 بري: غير معنيين بالطائف والقبول به خيانة
12/11/1989 حزب الله: الطائف استسلام للمارونية السياسية واسرائيل
30 June 2014, 15:04
54
18/04/1989 بري: لن نقبل برئيس ماروني بعد الآن
30/06/1989 حزب الله يعلن الولاء المطلق لآية الله السيد علي خامنئي
01/09/1989 حزب الله يعلن حرب مفتوحة مع الموارنة معتبرا حملة عون على سوريا هي حملة لابادة المسلمين
21/09/1989 حزب الله : نرفض رئيسا مارونيا ونرفض الذل تحت اسم التعايش مع النصارى
13/10/1989 حزب الله : سنمزق اتفاق الطائف
20/10/1989 بري: غير معنيين بالطائف والقبول به خيانة
12/11/1989 حزب الله: الطائف استسلام للمارونية السياسية واسرائيل
30 June 2014, 15:35
00
Don wanna talk like this but its the way it is..
Just cause mr Aoun today has the support of the Shia he knows that he can win that is why he wants this. But he is opening the door on something very dangerous.. this guy is really blinded by that chair. Say what you want about the ta2if but after the war between jaajaa and aoun its the only thing giving christians what little rights theyve got remained. Because they are becoming a minority
30 June 2014, 15:44
53
This is a very good proposal, on condition that all Lebanese citizens, regardless of sect are allowed to participate. This must include expats. Very good start, Aoun. Now keep pushing until it goes through! This is our chance to move closer to a more inclusive democracy. Our MPs are useless middlmen. Cut out the middlemen!
30 June 2014, 16:19
53
Texas: 3a rasé. But we need to start somewhere. Let's do it in incremental steps until such time when we move beyond Taef. Once a people have a stake in the president, they would want his/her power to increase. I am convinced of this.
30 June 2014, 15:47
00
How is Aoun going to amend to constitution without a sitting president?
Aoun needs to read Article 77 of the constitution.
30 June 2014, 15:55
22
yes but it is not acceptable that christian only vote in the first round for the president. What does it mean then? 1) The non maronite 2nd round vote is meaningless and 2) the president is for all lebanese and not for maronite only.
Aoun
30 June 2014, 17:13
53
greatpierro...not being Lebanese (I guess Israeli), you wouldn't know that the president must be a Maronite Christian, the PM a Sunni, and the speaker of parliament a Shiite. Having the christains elect the first round candidates that must be maronite and essentially allow every person of the Lebanese republic the chance to directly elect one of two most popular christain candidates is a good step forward that removes back room deals and foriegn powers deals that result in a consensus president without popular local political support.
30 June 2014, 16:01
33
Aoun is again showing how destructive he can be to the lebanese communities living together. his argument that the sunni pm is the strongest among his community and so is the chiite head of parliament is just de la poudre au yeux. the sunni mp we had so far cannot be described all as being the strongest in the community: omar karamé, sanioura, salam, mikati. The latter one was actually very unpopular so was omar karamé. please stop destroying lebanon mr aoun.
30 June 2014, 16:31
21
He stole my idea! Well, even a broke clock is right 2 times a day. Good move General, but it ain't happening on this election, hopefully for the next election 6 years from now.
30 June 2014, 16:40
41
It seems that Al Akhbar always knows what Aoun is going to say a week or se before he says it, I guess it takes a week or so for them make him understand what they mean and he still manages to screw it up and his MPs have scramble for the next the next week or so explaining what he really meant.
BTW I'm taking wagers, which Aounist MP will be the first to explain what Aoun really meant.
30 June 2014, 16:58
43
Defecto... The decision doesn't just fall on the Muslims. Approx 40% of eligible voters are Christians. If the remaining 60% are approximately divided, Shiite 30% Sunni 25% Druze 5% then all of lebanons people have a significant say in the winner and representative of the republic of Lebanon.
30 June 2014, 17:53
00
NO Aoun is the worst thing that ever happened to the Christians! He even trumps anything done by Hafez and Bashar Assad, Yasser Arafat, Geagea, Hbeika, Habib Shartouni, Emil Lahoud, Rachid Karameh, ..
30 June 2014, 17:56
00
let rotate the 3 presidencies in Lebanon every six years since all religion are equal
president :Christian, sunni , chia
prime minister :sunni , shia ,christian
president of parliament:shia , Christian, sunni
this way all religion are equal and its a window towards secularism
30 June 2014, 18:23
42
anonymetexasusa... The president is not "our Christian" president... He is Lebanon's president! He just, must happen to be a Maronite. The speaker and PM is elected through Christian mps as well as Muslim. The current difference is that it is often their most popular politician that is elected. Since the taef accord, the Lebanese president that is reserved for the christains has always been some consensus president that has no popular Christian base. This proposed amendment would ensure a popular Christian is elected by all of Lebanon and not through political back door foriegn deals!
30 June 2014, 20:14
23
More BS from the BS artist
“Consecutive electoral laws have given Christians the right to elect only 17 of their MPs"
what about 2008's "رجعنا الحقوق لاصحابها" billboards!
30 June 2014, 21:11
35
feel ashame for Aoun, a LAF ex-general, ready to violate every rule to win. Better lose with honour than win with cheap farsi tactics.
30 June 2014, 21:41
00
in free democratic countries when there is a political impass they resort to the people to new elections
god bless democracy
30 June 2014, 23:54
00
قامت الخلافة في وجه الولاية. صاح الفقيه. صرخ الأمير. في هذا الوقت، في البلد الصغير، صمتت الجمهورية وغاب الرئيس
01 July 2014, 01:36
00
من "انا وبس" الى انت وبس
في مواجهة الشارع المسيحي، او البطرك الماروني يقولالجنرال " أنا او لا احد" ولكن في حضرة نص الله تتحول الكلمة الى " انت وبس". ولهذا السبب يقدم حضرته مشروعه لانتخاب رئيس الجمهورية من الشعب من دون تفكير بعواقب هذه الخطوة. المهم بالنتيجة انو يركب على الكرسي حتى لو لساعة واحدة ومن بعدها ما ينبت حشيش.
01 July 2014, 01:52
32
Two filthy liars doing what they do best, lie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1UrmGj7Ddo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TczucmLgXd8
