MPs tussle over sharing power and changing Taif
Lebanese MPs questioned both the government and each other on Wednesday, in a general discussion session that saw disagreements over several issues.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora”s response speech, which had been expected to be delivered at the end of Wednesday”s evening session, the fourth since Monday, was reportedly delayed until Thursday, which is also scheduled to witness the election of members to the Constitutional Council.
Thirteen MPs addressed Parliament during the evening session, touching on matters such as the efficiency of the current Cabinet (a unity government containing members of both the March 14 and rival March 8 camps), possible amendments to the Taif Accord that ended the 1975-1990 Civil War, and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Syria.
March 14 MP Butros Harb did not rule out calls by the opposition to amend some provisions of Taif, particularly those pertaining to the powers of the president and prime minister.
Harb said Taif was not a "sacred text" that could be amended or modernized, adding that he had personally submitted a proposal in 2004 to introduce some amendments, including ones related to the parliamentary elections law and the formation of Cabinet.
He added, however, that such proposals were "reform projects to fill the gaps that were found in Taif."
"The Taif Accord was the result of national consensus and each amendment to it must be the fruit of dialogue and consensus," Harb said.
He added that he was hesitant to trust Cabinet.
"The Cabinet includes [both] excellent and competent ministers who have our confidence and ministers on whom we can never rely," he said.
He also argued that a government containing both majority and opposition members "constitutes a violation of constitutional principles in democratic parliamentary regimes."
Consensus Cabinets have been a regular fixture of Lebanon”s sectarian power-sharing system since independence in 1943.
On the March 8 side, Change and Reform bloc MP Ghassan Mokheiber called for "realizing the shortcomings of the Taif," adding that some of its articles "need to be amended."
He also urged the Cabinet to officially approve the right of return of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and to address the deputy prime minister”s authorities and powers.
Development and Liberation bloc MP Ali Hassan Khalil reiterated that if the opposition prevailed in next year”s elections, it would preserve the consensus formula.
"If we win the majority of the parliament”s seats, we will not abandon the concept of partnership within the Cabinet," he said, adding that his bloc was also committed to the national dialogue in order to come to an agreement over a defense strategy that would protect Lebanon.
March 14 MP Georges Adwan of the Lebanese Forces, however, ruled out any such partnership, declaring: "In the name of the parliamentary majority, if we lose the majority in the upcoming elections, we would not participate in the Cabinet."
He also stated that the participation of both opposition and majority members in the Cabinet, a system that has been used by several of the world”s most stable democracies, was a "violation of democratic principles."
For her part, March 14 MP Nayla Mouawad complained that "the inflow of arms is still taking place through the border with Syria." She also accused "some parties who are represented in the government" of supporting the smuggling.
During the earlier session, 14 MPs raised development and political issues, with some also focusing on calls to amend the Taif Accord.
March 14 MP Marwan Hamadeh of the Democratic Gathering used his address to the House to thank Russia for the arms it has agreed to send the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). "We want to liberate Gaza, not besiege Lebanon, and we want the unification of Iraq, not the division of Lebanon," he said.
Hamadeh also called on all those who demanded what he described as the toppling of the national consensus that was Taif to "work with us to implement it first in a unified state."
In addition, he questioned some of the reservations that were emerging on the issue of arming the LAF, saying: "Beware of turning Lebanon into a state where the government is divided between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians instead of the fair and equal sharing of the government between Muslims and Christians."
He concluded that formal diplomatic relations with Syria would not remove his suspicions about "the Assad regime."
Meanwhile, six MPs submitted a proposal to Speaker Nabih Berri to form a "parliamentary investigation committee to probe all crimes attributed to officials over the past two decades."
The MPs submitting the proposal were Harb, Hamadeh Mouawad, Ammar Houri, Antoine Zahra and Hagop Kassardjian. They also said that the committee must be granted judicial investigation powers, saying that they hoped their plan would be raised and adopted at the end of the general discussion sessions.