Former President Amin Gemayel: Interpretation of the Constitution is restricted to the Parliament

 

Former President Amin Gemayel said that Speaker Nabih Berri’s stance over interpreting article 74 of the constitution is a personal one.

“It is up to the parliament to interpret the constitution, and not its Speaker,” Gemayel told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Article 74 reads as follow: “Should the Presidency become vacant through the death or resignation of the President or for any other cause, the Chamber meets immediately and by virtue of the law to elect a successor.

 

If the Chamber happens to be dissolved at the time the vacancy occurs, the electoral bodies are convened without delay and, as soon as the elections have taken place, the Chamber meets by virtue of the law.”

“This article as mentioned by Berri, in his reply to the government, has noting to do with the need of grade one civil servants to resign from their office two years ahead of the presidential elections to be able to join the presidential race,” Gemayel noted.

Berri has based his opinion on article 74 to justify the election of Army Commander General Michel Sleiman without amending the constitution.