Majority-Minority Bickering on Appointments, Hizbullah Criticizes Suleiman
The repercussions of Wednesday”s cabinet session continued as Hizbullah accused the president of partiality after he used his constitutional right for the first time and called for voting on administrative appointments.
The appointments, however, were not adopted after 11 opposition ministers refused to vote and none of the candidates for first grade civil posts received two-thirds of votes.
Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah said that a consensus president should be at equal distance from the majority and minority. He reiterated that the opposition insists on a single basket that would include the administrative appointments, the state budget and appointing the rest of the constitutional council members in a balanced way.
Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem called for keeping the presidency away from bickering in order to protect it.
The presidency should not be part of any team, he said, stressing that the issue of lowering the term of the president is not up for discussion. Qassem also challenged the March 14 forces to reveal any statement from an opposition member that called for dividing power between Christians, Sunnis and Shiites.
Pro-minority Al-Akhbar newspaper quoted opposition sources as saying that the president”s stance during the cabinet meeting is a reminder of his position on the eve of the urgent Arab summit on Gaza when "he tilted towards the March 14 team."
However, Cabinet Minister Jean Oghassabian told Voice of Lebanon radio on Friday that the March 8 alliance has intentions to obstruct the appointments, adding there is difficulty to agree on a single package.
Social Affairs Minister Mario Aoun also told VDL that there is no real intention to make the appointments or else they would have been approved long time ago.
"I expect the issue to be postponed until after the elections," he said.
Ministerial sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that Suleiman will propose the administrative appointments linked to the elections at the cabinet”s next session.