Speaker Nabih
KnobbyBerri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
set May 22 as the fifth round to hold the elections.
Only 73 politicians out of 128 were present at parliament.
MPs of the March 8 Loyalty to the Resistance
That'd be the Hezbullies, natch...
bloc did not attend the session, while the majority of March 14 alliance members were present, reported Voice of Leb radio (93.3).
March 14 MP Nabil de Freij accused the March 8 of deliberately obstructing quorum, while MP Robert Ghanem rejected calls for a constitutional amendment regarding the elections.
Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
leader and presidential candidate
Samir Geagea... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ...
had demanded, prior to the failure of the session, that such an amendment be introduced.
MP Sami Gemayel of the Kataeb Party stated from parliament after the session that he had hoped that Berri would call for daily presidential election sessions in order to elect a head of state before the term of President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
ends on May 25.
Commenting on the possibility of vacuum in the presidency, he said: "Some members of parliament are deliberately obstructing the election of a president."
"These MPs are responsible for the vacuum," he added.
"They must exercise their duties to elect a president, whether through casting a blank vote or voting for a candidate," he stressed.
"They are not adopting democratic practices through boycotting parliament, but they are simply playing an obstructive role," noted Gemayel, deeming the March 8 boycott as "unjustified."
"Those obstructing quorum will be held responsible for the consequences of the vacuum," warned the MP.
Two previous rounds of the elections were not held over the lack of quorum.
The first round of the elections was held in April, but neither candidates Geagea or Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou, obtained the necessary 86 votes at the time to be elected head state.
Helou said after Thursday's session: "We now have a weekly appointment with the politicians' inability to hold the elections."
"This unfortunate series of developments will continue should the political divisions persist," he lamented.
He therefore suggested the proposal of "bold initiatives" to extract Leb from "the crisis that will begin after a few days" when Suleiman's term ends.
By law, if no president has been chosen by the last 10 days of the incumbent's mandate, parliament cannot meet for legislative sessions except to elect a new president.
That means, starting on Thursday, legislative action will grind to a halt.
| At least the army's round up of miscreants, jihadis, and illegal immigrants is proceeding apace. |