Officials in Zahle meet to put pressure on Skaff”s bloc

 

“We reject and denounce the indolence of our parliamentary representatives in Zahle and their failure to perform their national duty by leaving the country without a president,” Firzul municipal council chief Ibrahim Nasrallah said during a Saturday meeting of Zahle and Central Bekaa municipal bosses, mayors and councilmen in the Grand Kadri Hotel in Zahle.

 

The “Rejection of Vacuum and Return to Legislative and Executive Institutional Normalcy” meeting was called for by the Zahle qada (district) union of municipalities, the Central Bekaa union of municipalities and various mayors from the area in order to exert pressure on the Popular Bloc that represents the Zahle district in Parliament.

 

Led by former Agricultural Minister Elias Skaff, the seven-member Popular Bloc forms a crucial part of the opposition-aligned Change and Reform bloc led by the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).

 

Although the Zahle city municipal government, controlled by Skaff ally Assaad Zogheib was formally absent from the event, the meeting was attended by many local politicians hoping to alter the stance of area MPs regarding the presidency.

 

The FPM, constituting the largest Christian faction in Parliament, is perceived by an increasing number of people, including former coalition member and Metn chieftain MP Michel Murr, to be the main culprit in the stalled presidential elections.
 

The rift over the presidential elections between Murr and FPM chief MP Michel Aoun comes as wave of popular discontent regarding the perceived FPM hold-up is spreading across Jbeil, Kesrouan and the Metn area dominated by Murr.

 

Motivated by the presidential vacuum, municipal gatherings similar to that held in Zahle over the weekend have taken place in all these areas, which Aoun handily won during the 2005 parliamentary elections, and may be threatening the bloc”s cohesiveness regarding the issue.

 

Political rhetoric between rival Christian factions continues to intensify, with FPM representatives insisting that the party remains strong, and with pro-government factions arguing that municipal discontent is an expression of both popular and official unrest.

 

Amid discussions regarding Speaker Nabih Berri”s call for a “national dialogue” centered on the next electoral framework, speculation concerning a possible convergence between Murr and Phalange leader and former President Amin Gemayel is growing, making the presidential vacuum and its effect on Christian public opinion important to the broader stalemate in Lebanon.