IMLebanon

Cabinet faces unity test over key appointments

BEIRUT: Cabinet faces a new test of unity Thursday over the appointment of new members of the Banking Control Commissionas a number of ministers have voiced reservations over some proposed candidates.

Meanwhile, Parliament failed to elect a new president over a lack of quorum, prompting Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone the session to April 2. Wednesday’s session was the 20th aborted attempt since April to choose a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year tenure ended on May 25.

Only 54 lawmakers, mainly from the March 14 coalition, Berri’s bloc and MP Walid Jumblatt’s bloc, showed up in Parliament, well below 86 MPs, or two thirds of the legislature’s 128 members, needed to convene the session.

Lawmakers from MP Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah’s bloc and its March 8 allies have scuttled a quorum by boycotting parliamentary sessions, demanding an agreement beforehand with their March 14 rivals over a consensus candidate for the presidency.

The extension of the Banking Control Commission’s mandate, which expires on March 17, is not ruled out if a number of ministers maintained their reservations over some candidates, ministerial sources said.

The Cabinet is facing a difficult situation given the continued differences among ministers over the names of proposed candidates to the commission’s members, in addition to a constitutional problem that would arise because the new members would not be able to assume their duties before taking the oath before a president, the sources said.

The Cabinet meets Thursday after resolving a dispute last week over a decision-making mechanism that had prevented its sessions for two weeks. In line with premier Tammam Salam’s plan which calls for avoiding prolonged sessions as had happened in the past, the Cabinet has only three hours to discuss some 140 items on its agenda.

Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil is expected to propose from outside the agenda the appointment of the commission’s five members, an issue which Khalil had raised during last week’s Cabinet session, but Salam asked him to contact various political parties to achieve consensus on it.The names of proposed candidates are: Samir Hammoud from the Future Movement as head of the commission, Joseph Sarkis, a candidate from Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, Ahmad Safa, nominated by the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, and Munir Alyan, a candidate backed by the March 14 coalition. Discussion is still going on the commission’s Greek Orthodox member, with Aoun demanding that this post be allotted to the FPM, while Khalil is proposing Tony Shoueiri for the post.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused Iran of obstructing the election with its insistence on supporting Aoun for the presidency.

“There is a clear Iranian decision to obstruct the presidential election,” Geagea said in an interview with MTV Wednesday night. He said Iran would be pleased with the election of Aoun as president.

Geagea said Aoun is the only person who could help break the presidential deadlock if he and members of his parliamentary bloc decided to attend a parliamentary session to elect a president.

“Gen. Aoun is the only one who can put a halt to the obstruction of the presidential election” said Geagea, the March 14-backed candidate for the presidency. He added that Aoun rejected his proposal for an agreement on a third candidate.

The LF chief scoffed at the argument that foreign factors influenced the presidential vote. “The presidential election is a purely internal matter. If Hezbollah decided to attend a parliamentary [electoral] session, the [presidential] election would take place,” he said.

Referring to the ongoing talks between the LF and the FPM, Geagea said “major progress” has been made in the “declaration of intent,” or a joint political blueprint. However, he ruled out an imminent meeting with Aoun, given the deep political differences.

“Such a meeting will take time. It is not easy,” he said.

“We cannot accept to be part of the resistance axis or for a Lebanese party to fight outside Lebanon,” Geagea said in a clear reference to Hezbollah, which is fighting in Syria alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces.

For his part, Berri was quoted by MPs who met him in Ain al-Tineh Wednesday as saying he would call after March 17, the start of the legislature’s regular term, for a meeting of Parliament’s Secretariat to draw up an agenda of a legislative session to be held at the end of this month or early next month.

Berri’s stance comes despite opposition expressed by some Christian parties to legislation during the presidential vacuum.

Berri also criticized those who tried to cast doubts about the ongoing dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah. “This dialogue has produced several benefits in the interest of the country in this gloomy period,” he said. “The dialogue will continue and will not be hampered by some films and writers.”

Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb warned that the country’s political system would collapse if Lebanon is left without a president.

“It is not permissible in any form for the Lebanese state to remain without a president,” Harb said in Parliament after it failed to meet to elect a president. “We must do our best to convince those who are obstructing the election of a president that this matter will lead to the breakdown of the system,” he said. “The Lebanese state is vulnerable to collapse if the current situation persists.”