Hariri: We Won't Take Part in Parliamentary Vote in Absence of President
Former premier Saad Hariri announced Wednesday that al-Mustaqbal bloc will not take part in parliamentary polls before the election of a new president, denying the presence of any “deal” to extend the current parliament's mandate.
“A lot will be said about an alleged deal to extend the parliament's term, but there is no deal,” Hariri said on his official Twitter account.
“We simply won't take part in parliamentary polls before a president is elected,” Hariri stressed.
On Tuesday, Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun expressed his belief that a political “deal” to extend the parliament's mandate had been already made.
The deadline to file nominations ended at midnight Tuesday after 514 candidates submitted their applications to the interior ministry.
Several political forces have however hinted that a second extension of the parliament's term is looming on the horizon while the government has failed so far to form the committee that is supposed to oversee the elections.
“Let them act to end the presidential vacuum and we will be ready to take part in any other juncture,” Hariri added.
“Otherwise it would be a bet on the unknown and maybe falling into total vacuum,” he went on to say.
Earlier on Wednesday, al-Mustaqbal bloc announced that it has submitted its nominations for the upcoming legislative polls despite its insistence on electing a new president first to avoid constitutional gaps.
“The priority is for electing a president before any other juncture,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.
“Holding parliamentary polls amid this (presidential) void will be marred by two main flaws: the absence of a constitutional authority (president) capable of staging binding parliamentary consultations” to form a new government, and “the increase in security concerns … which might lead to postponing the elections,” Mustaqbal warned.
It pointed out that it submitted its nominations on Tuesday “on the basis that the election of a president is a precondition for holding the parliamentary vote, and on the hope that this election will take place before the legislative polls.”
In this regard, the bloc reminded of “the initiative that was launched by the March 14 forces on September 2, which aims to salvage the republic, preserve the Constitution and elect a new president.”
It noted that it will maintain its contacts “with all parties without exception to secure the success of the initiative.”
And as it underlined that “countering terrorism is an ethical and national responsibility,” the bloc reiterated its call for all Lebanese parties to “adhere to the dissociation policy, abide by the Baabda Declaration and avoid implicating Lebanon in foreign dilemmas.”
Mustaqbal also renewed its call for Hizbullah to “withdraw from the ongoing conflict in Syria.”
Addressing recent calls for creating armed vigilante groups to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State jihadists, the bloc rejected any type of self-security, calling again for “expanding the mandate of the UNIFIL (U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon) forces and deploying them on the eastern and northern borders in order to protect Lebanon.”
Y.R.
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