Salam: Some 'Not in Hurry' to End Vacuum, Solution Not in Triumph of Camp over Another

Prime Minister Tammam Salam lamented Tuesday that “some parties” are not “in a hurry” to put an end to the protracting presidential vacuum, stressing that any solution must not imply a victory for one political camp over the other.

“Some parties are not in a hurry to end the presidential vacuum despite the threats that the country is facing,” said Salam in an address to the nation marking one year since the vacuum began at the presidential palace.

He warned that Lebanon has appeared as a “failed state” and the Lebanese “have given the impression that they are incompetent to solve their problems on their own.”

“The presidential vacuum is obstructing the interests of the state and the Lebanese,” the premier cautioned.

“No one can replace the president of the country who should be elected by parliament and the Constitution has allowed the government to practice his powers for a temporary period,” Salam added.

His cabinet assumed presidential powers after president Michel Suleiman's term ended on May 25, 2014.

Salam decried that political disputes have “prevented the adoption of urgent and critical resolutions that are related to vital economic sectors.”

“Some parties had their own interpretation of consensus (in passing cabinet resolutions), which slowed down the work of the government, but we eventually managed to find a new approach that overcame the policy of obstruction,” Salam noted.

He warned that the continued vacuum in the presidential post is “threatening the Lebanese entity itself” and “inflicting major damage on Lebanon as a country of coexistence and partnership.”

“The implementation of the Constitution is not a point of view, but rather a sacred national duty,” Salam underscored.

“It is no longer acceptable to keep the political life in Lebanon suspended and to keep the Lebanese prisoners of the crises surrounding us,” he went on to say.

He noted that higher national interest obliges the Lebanese parties to “immediately seek a consensual solution for the vacuum crisis,” warning that “any other solution that implies a triumph for one camp over another is a recipe for generating a bigger and more dangerous crisis.”

“Until we achieve that, we will continue our work at the head of the national coalition government, while keeping our eyes focused on the interest of Lebanon and the Lebanese,” Salam reassured.

The rival camps have failed to elect a successor to Suleiman despite having held around 23 parliamentary sessions. The MPs have not met the two-thirds quorum required to hold an electoral session amid a boycott by the parliamentary blocs of Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement.

Y.R.