Berri Says Aoun Letter to Parliament on Hariri's Designation ‘Could Sow Strife’
Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly advised the President to dismiss the idea of sending a letter to Parliament over the “open-ended designation” of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and the delayed government formation, warning it could “sow seeds of strife” among Lebanon’s various sects, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.
Berri was quoted as saying that addressing the parliament in that regard “could sabotage” the country and sow strife between the Christians and Sunnis on one hand, and Sunnis and Shiites on the other, said the daily.
Speaker Berri “frankly” told President Michel Aoun during a meeting in Baabda on Tuesday that he would not call for a parliamentary session lacking “elements in the charter,” said the newspaper.
Aoun is reportedly mulling over the possibility of sending a letter to the parliament to address an “open-ended designation period” of Hariri in light of the delay in forming a new government.
Although political forces acknowledge the President's constitutional right to address the parliament asking it to deem “the appropriate thing”, constitutional experts said the “parliament is not authorized to overthrow the mandate of Hariri, nor is anyone prepared to engage the country in a constitutional conflict.”
Experts believe that “Aoun’s message, if it happens, is aimed at pressuring Hariri to expedite the formation under his own terms and the terms of his (Aoun’s) Free Patriotic Movement team.”
A Mustaqbal Movement official (of Hariri) noted the “president's right to send a letter to any side he deems appropriate, conditionally it falls in his jurisdiction,” but added “merely, its a waste of time. It will change nothing in the designation of the PM.”
Source: Agence France Presse
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