Cabinet members express frustration with failure to elect new president
The Cabinet assumed presidential powers when former President Emile Lahoud”s term expired at midnight Friday, but many ministers had been eagerly anticipating leaving office on that date as well, a number of ministers told The Daily Star on Tuesday. Despite the new authorities resting with the government, ministers said their work had not changed, although their new responsibilities have put them in an uncomfortable position and they want the vacuum at the top of the state filled as soon as possible, they said.
At the Telecommunications Ministry, the situation is “business as usual,” said Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh. “Had we elected a new president, we would have resigned. I think this would have maybe been felt on the level of the authority in the ministry.”
Hamadeh, a longtime vocal critic of Lahoud, said he felt no differently from last week because of Lahoud”s marginal authority. Lahoud”s term was extended for three years in 2004 under Syrian pressure, after which the international community largely ignored him, while the Syrian interference prompted the UN Security Council to pass Resolution 1559, which called for a free and fair presidential election in Lebanon.
“I don”t feel anything now, because personally and on the political level, I felt there was no president of the republic since September 2004,” said Hamadeh, who was the target of an assassination attempt in October 2004.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora”s Cabinet pledged not to take any provocative measures with its new powers, but that does not mean the ministers have any less work than last week, said Finance Minister Jihad Azour.
“We believe [the Cabinet assuming presidential powers] is not good for Lebanon, and we have agreed unanimously that we should do the minimum,” Azour said.
“I am as busy as I used to be,” Azour added. “I have many things to deal with. I don”t feel any differently.”
Even if their tasks have not changed, the ministers feel the added weight of their new authority, said Minister of State for Legislative Affairs Michel Pharaon. “On a personal level we feel that there”s maybe a different kind of feeling of responsibility,” he said. Ministers “have a feeling that we are reaching a point which is dangerous for the country. Our situation as ministers is uncomfortable and unwanted. We are not happy to be in this position because of the presidential vacuum.”
“We are more, let”s say, nervous, considering that this situation is not yet clearly defined,” he added. “We are more nervous because we really feel that the vacancy in the presidential post is an event which is not acceptable. The political situation is unhealthy.”
Although ministers said they would continue carrying out their duties, the absence of a president will leave the state”s feeble institutions emaciated, which is “one of the main problems the Lebanese are suffering from,” Azour said.
“I was looking forward to seeing the institutions, with the election of the president, go back to normal,” he said. “We wanted a strong president.”
With the office of the president and the state so weak in recent years, Lebanon”s political factions were able to manipulate state institutions to suit their momentary political interests, he added.
“We played with them by changing the rules of the game whenever the game was not in our favor,” he said.
Azour said he had hoped to hand over his agenda to a new administration that could address the failings of the state, adding that he had 50 draft laws ready for his successor to vet.
“I was expecting to see a new momentum, a restoration of confidence,” he added. “I was expecting elections to take place. I feel a bit disappointed.”
Minister of State for Administrative Reform Jean Hagosapian echoed Azour”s unhappiness with the turn of events, although he added that his work continued “normally.”
“Lebanon cannot go on longer in this case, without a president and the Parliament is closed,” he said. The legislature has not convened this year, as Parliament failed to gather a quorum for five scheduled sessions to elect a president.
On a personal level, the ministers are also impatient to leave office and escape the constraints forced on them at the center of the yearlong political standoff. For example, several ministers, fearing assassination attempts, have taken up temporary residence at the Grand Serail.
Ministers were looking forward to November 24, the date a new president should have taken office, with “big
relief,” Hamadeh said.
“All of them are threatened,” he said, referring to the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel on November 21, 2006.
“I wish I could get out of home,” Hamadeh added. “We want to move again. We want to travel again.”
“I sometimes go to my ministry without previous notice for security reasons, but I”m mostly stuck at home,” he said. “My only way out are the meetings of March 14 [the ruling coalition] or at the Cabinet meetings.”
Azour said he just wanted to be able to take a walk in public with his wife and child.
“I was preparing myself for some vacation,” he said. “In the last two years I didn”t have any vacation. In the past year I was living in a very, very restricted way. I was looking forward to going back to my normal life.”
“We were looking forward” to resuming private life, Pharaon said. “I want to go back home. I”m not looking to be a minister anymore.”