Lebanon majority issues an ultimatum urging Saturday elections
The March 14 leaders issued an ultimatum to the opposition after a late nigh meeting yesterday urging a fruitful meeting to amend the constitution and elect a president this Saturday or the government will act alone and amend the constitution as needed .
The March 14 meeting grouping Parliament majority leader MP Saad Hariri, Democratic gathering leader Walid Jumblatt, Phalange Party leader and former president Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces chief Dr. Samir Geagea and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora warned against any further postponement of the legislative session to elect a president.
The March 14 leaders rejected attempts by the opposition to bypass the government in the amendment needed to elect General Suleiman as president . They insisted on sticking to the constitution which gives the
government a central role in any amendment .
“If Speaker Nabih Berri didn”t convene the parliament on Saturday and the opposition”s MPs didn”t attend the session…the government will meet before Christmas to issue a bill to amend the constitution allowing the election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as president and refer it to parliament to force MPs to shoulder their responsibilities,” the March 14 majority leaders warned late Tuesday.
In another related development US secretary Condoleezza Rice has cancelled her Wednesday trip to Beirut and this is why her assistant for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott showed up Tuesday in a surprise trip to try and end the impasse.
Welch and Abrams met with March 14 leaders on Tuesday.
Welch urged Berri, after talks with Prime Minister Siniora to “assume his constitutional responsibilities and leadership role… and allow parliament to meet and to vote.”
“Members of parliament should elect a president without conditions and without any further delay,” he reiterated after a meeting with Hariri.
Welch accused the opposition of blocking the presidential vote in parliament and said Berri should call a session without further delay to elect a successor to Emile Lahoud, who quit at the end of his term on November 23.
The vote has been postponed nine times since September amid a tug-of-war between the majority and the opposition, with the last session Monday delayed again until Saturday.
The majority and the opposition have agreed in principle to elect Suleiman but remain at odds on how to amend the constitution to allow a senior public servant to become president.
The majority wants the vote to go ahead as soon as possible, but the opposition is trying to extract gains for going along which they are calling them “ basket of guarantees “. These guarantees are called blackmail by the majority since they undermine the constitutional authority of the president .
Berri dismissed Welch”s criticism in a statement issued by his office on Tuesday. “Speaker Berri knows very well his responsibilities and hopes that others know theirs too.
“Welch should put pressure on those who listen to him and obey him so that they, too, shoulder their responsibilities,” the Berri statement said, in reference to the parliament majority.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun, a member of the Hezbollah-led opposition and a negotiator for the opposition, slammed U.S. policies in Lebanon and Welch”s refusal to meet with him.
“U.S. policies represent a danger for Lebanon. Welch”s visit is incomplete and will not lead to a solution,” he added
During his last surprise visit , Welch met all the key Lebanese leaders except General Michel Aoun. Aoun’s alliance with the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah group has irritated the Lebanese majority alliance which is backed by the US. US ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said “ Aoun sounds more and more like Butheina Shaaban” , Syria”s Expatriates Minister and a regular critic of the US.