Lebanon presidential vote postponed again: official

 

A parliamentary session to elect a new president in Lebanon was postponed Friday for a seventh time, with a new date set for Tuesday, a spokesman for parliament speaker Nabih Berri said.

“The parliament speaker has decided to postpone today”s session to Tuesday, December 11 at 12 noon (1000 GMT),” said Mohammed Ballout, without giving futher details.

 

Lawmakers from the ruling Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition had earlier gathered in parliament to elect the army chief as the new president but confusion reigned for some time as MPs gave conflicting statements.

 

MP Robert Ghanem told AFP after the session was delayed that he believes the vote would finally go through next Tuesday.

 

He said a petition signed by 10 MPs would be submitted to parliament on Saturday calling for a constitutional amendment to allow General Michel Sleiman”s election to the presidency, which has been vacant for two weeks.

 

“There will be two sessions on Tuesday, one to amend the constitution and another to elect the president,” he said.

 

Friday”s session was the seventh attempt by lawmakers to elect a successor to incumbent Emile Lahoud, whose term expired November 23.

 

Although rival politicians have agreed in principle on Sleiman, they have been at loggerheads over how to amend the constitution and on the make-up of the new cabinet.

 

Social Affairs Minister and MP Nayla Moawad blamed opposition leader Michel Aoun for the latest delay.

“I ask Aoun to stop putting up new obstacles and being a front for Syrian-Iranian ambitions in Lebanon,” she told reporters.

 

A senior advisor to Aoun told AFP, however, that the opposition would not budge from its demands.

 

“If they want a consensus president there must be first consensus on the (next) prime minister,” said Simon Abiramia, adding that the opposition wanted agreement on the future make-up of the government and other guarantees before agreeing to take part in the vote.

 

A government official said earlier on condition of anonymity that the majority and the opposition were divided on the mechanism needed to amend the constitution.

 

Article 49 of the constitution stipulates that senior public servants must have left office two years before they can vye for the presidency, and Sleiman is still army chief.

 

“They are still negotiating on how to amend the constitution,” the official said, adding that the opposition wanted Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to resign before proceeding to an amendment.

 

Legal experts say there are two ways to amend the constitution: the cabinet can draft a bill and submit it to parliament for its approval or 10 deputies can formulate the request to amend through a petition to the house.

 

The opposition, which includes factions backed by Syria and Iran, does not recognise Siniora”s cabinet and pulled its six ministers from the cabinet last year in a bid to force the formation of a new national unity government.

 

Aoun, also a presidential hopeful and former army chief, has insisted that Sleiman serve only until the June 2009 legislative elections, instead of six years as stipulated by the constitution.

 

“I have made enough compromises and I will add a new demand every day,” he told a news conference on Thursday.

 

Six sessions to elect a president have already been postponed since September amid fears the crisis would lead to unrest in a country still recovering from its 1975-1990 civil war.

 

Picture: Lebanese soldiers stand guard in front of the parliament in downtown Beirut December 7, 2007. Lebanon”s presidential election was postponed again on Friday, despite rival leaders” agreement in principle to give the post to army chief Michel Suleiman in a step that would ease the country”s deep political crisis.
REUTERS/ Jamal Saidi (LEBANON)