FPM Considering to Boycott Cabinet Sessions after Suleiman's Term Ends
The Free Patriotic Movement is mulling to boycott cabinet sessions after the end of President Michel Suleiman's tenure to protest the political arch-foes' failure to elect a successor, media reports said on Thursday.
Sources close to the FPM told al-Akhbar newspaper that the “party is discussing the possibility of boycotting all government sessions after Suleiman's term ends to object the failure to carry out timely presidential polls.”
The sources pointed out that FPM officials are “still discussing the positive and negative aspects of such a move, especially, if the Marada movement and Tashnag and the rest of the March 8 ministers didn't follow suit.”
“Such an endeavor will be meaningless if our allies didn't support it.”
Parliament has so far failed to elect a new president over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances.
Most of the March 8 camp's MPs have boycotted four rounds of elections over their call for an agreement on a consensual president.
However, sources close to the March 14 alliance questioned the usefulness of the FPM's decision as “the boycott by the movement's two ministers will not affect the cabinet.”
The sources pointed out that the coalition, including al-Mustaqbal movement, will boycott all parliamentary sessions set to take place after May 25 to protest the legislators' failure to elect a new head of state.
“Christian lawmakers affiliated in the March 14 camp and the FPM agreed to boycott all legislative sessions.”
For his part, Information Minister Ramzi Jreij considered in comments published in al-Liwaa daily that the cabinet will be able to cover up for the vacancy at the helm of the most important Christian post in the state.
“A president should be elected as soon as possible,” Jreij said, describing the matter as “crucial.”
The minister expressed the cabinet's readiness to assume all its responsibilities according to the constitution.
There are fears that the vacuum in the country's top Christian post would affect Lebanon's power-sharing agreement under which the president should be a Maronite, the premier a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.
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