Murr Asks Aoun: Would Presidential Paralysis Constitute Reform and Change?
MP Michel Murr asked Free Patriotic Movement and ‘Reform and Change’ parliamentary bloc leader Michel Aoun if he would consider paralyzing the presidency a form of change and reform.
In a television interview on Friday evening Murr said: “My political basis is solid since 1992. When MP Aoun returned back to Lebanon in 2005 he had no popular foundation. I allied myself with him because I believed he is a Christian leader as the result of many years of exile. Would presidential paralysis for a year and the hindering of government work, not appropriating state budget would all this constitute change and reform.”
Murr said that the Phalange party enjoys 17,000 votes in the Metn, the Lebanese Forces 10,000, while Aoun has 12,000 votes and the Armenians 10,000. “As for me I don’t want to divulge the secret behind the electoral machinery.”
The veteran MP added that praises made by Hizbullah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to Aoun “does not strengthen his stance among the Christian Maronites as is the case with the statements made by Iranian President Ahmadinejad.”
Murr rejected the formula of veto power in government “because experience has showed that the work of government institutions was hindered. We won’t allow Aoun to further hinder these institutions. I propose adopting the 10-10-10 formula [a formula giving March 14, March 8 Forces ten ministers in cabinet and the president with an equal number of ministers] this allows the president to hold ten ministers and balance the strength of government resolutions.”
He paid tribute to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir exalting him as a spiritual and political figure of Lebanon: “ I hope the Maronite would not disappoint Bkirki as it seeks to safeguard and protect Lebanon and its Christians.”