Change and Reform Says Presidential Vacancy Should Not Hinder Work at State Institutions
The Change and Reform bloc welcomed on Tuesday the resumption of cabinet sessions, hoping that normal operations would resume at other constitutional institutions.
Former Minister Salim Jreissati said: “The vacancy in the presidency should not hinder state institutions from functioning.”
He made his remarks after the parliamentary bloc's weekly meeting.
Speaker Nabih Berri had recently announced that he will resume legislative sessions at parliament, media reports said.
“Several draft-laws need to be addressed during these meetings,” added Jreissati.
Parliament convenes twice a year in two ordinary sessions -- the first starts mid-march until the end of May and the second from the middle of October through the end of December.
Article 33 of the Constitution confirms that extraordinary sessions can be held at the request of "an absolute majority" of the parliament.
Among the first to react to Berri's plans on Tuesday was Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra.
“We reject holding legislative sessions in the absence of a president,” he said at a press conference he held at the parliament.
“The constitutions stipulates that the legislature would be transformed into an electoral body in the absence of a president,” he added.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May last year.
The rival blocs have so far failed to elect a successor despite more than a dozen rounds of sessions.
M.T.
Y.R.
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