Mustaqbal on Aoun's Proposal: Constitutional Amendments Require Time, Electing President is Priority
Al-Mustaqbal bloc on Tuesday considered that introducing any constitutional amendment requires time and favorable conditions, while the priority now is for electing a new president.
“Any MP or political party has the right to call for amending the constitution...but constitutional amendments that tackle important issues need time and favorable conditions while the country now needs electing a president quickly amid the regional developments,” the bloc said in a released statement after the weekly meeting of its MPs at the Center House.
“Any effort to amend national pacts or the political system needs national discussion in favorable conditions,” al-Mustaqbal stressed.
The lawmakers were responding to Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun's proposal of introducing a “limited constitutional amendment” that allows the Lebanese citizens to elect the head of state in two rounds.
The Change and Reform bloc head said on Monday that his proposal lies in allowing only Christians to vote for their candidates in the first round.
The system than 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.
Al-Mustaqbal bloc called for drawing an end to the presidential vacuum, urging also the March 8 MPs to stop boycotting the electoral session and nominate a candidate “who is capable of defending Lebanon, protecting its institutions and assuring the implementation of its constitution.”
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.
The conferees hailed during Tuesday's meeting the “great exceptional effort that security bodies are exerting,” stressing “the importance of its continuation to block the road in front of terrorism.”
“Developments proved that the state is the (authority) that exclusively protects the Lebanese while militias and illegal armed forces are the ones subjecting their lives to danger,” the statement noted.
It continued: “All efforts must be directed towards supporting security forces...and dealing with terrorism requires the unity of all the Lebanese. Crimes must be confronted through political stances, not through security measures only.”
The MPs also reiterated calls for Hizbullah's withdrawal from Syria.
S.D.B.
Y.R.
almost 10 years
FT : you're a joke ! you know damn well that the first ones to object to the elections was Hezbollah too busy conducting their war in Syria ! Not only this, their popularity hit rock bottom. Aoun's "will" to hold the election was just a sham to appear as the great democratic joke that he is !
almost 10 years
I love your numbers geha, you must be one incredible analyst. You must inform Aoun, I'm sure he doesn't know given he was the first the call for proceeding with the election of MPs.
almost 10 years
mustakbal is the voice of moderation. They are right, it is not the time to make a change. Just relax and take it easy...
They answered Aoun without aggressivity. It is their right, like it is the right of Aoun to propose changes.
almost 10 years
just relax and take it easy. You're still young, that's your fault, there is so much you have to know... Cat stevens...
i'll put some bong aside for you.
almost 10 years
aoun is just trying to buy time and play the "democrat" for his sheep.... he knows his proposal has no chance of being done, that is excctly why he proposed it... his faithful pup kanaan said a few days ago that taef must be respected and now he wants to change it ! LOL it only shows that his proposal was a media coup to avoid electing a president! LOL
almost 10 years
why would anyone even bother to comment on this grandpa who Alzheimer has clearly taken its toll on ?
almost 10 years
...and al-Mustaqbal al-Ta3ees, the grand thieves, also decide when the right time is! How about waiting another 24 years? Or, as Dr. Arreet 7akeh says, let's see what pleases the guys who calls him jens 3atel first and foremost! wlak akh mennak ya arreet 7akeh shennak tebe3 wa 3ameel akh
Aoun knows he does not have any majority if MPs elections happens now, actuaaly and based on the polls he has at hand, the maximum MPs he might get is between 4 and 6.
so all this elections process does not suit him, and he is trying to waste time with useless demands, that he knows cannot be achieved.