Report: LF Says ‘No More Allies’
After appointing the last five Constitutional Council members at a Cabinet session last month that “excluded” the Lebanese Forces, the LF stressed they “now have no more allies except those who wish to uncover and name the corrupt,” the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday.
“From now on there will be no consideration of anyone, no allies for us but those who agree on a policy of exposing the corrupt and name them away from any equivocation,” LF sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.
They said “there was a coup in the Cabinet against us regarding appointments of Constitutional Council members, it has shown that we are dealing with political forces that do not respect their commitments, this is dangerous in politics and in the process of seeking to build the nation we dream of.”
The first five members of the 10-judge Constitutional Council were appointed in June and the Lebanese Forces was promised one member when the Cabinet convenes to elect the remaining five.
But in August, the Cabinet elected the five without appointing any of the candidates put forward by the LF.
LF sources added: “We are not gasping after alliances. Let them run after us. Today we are a big political group with four government ministers and 15 parliamentarians. Let them try to continue our isolation game and harass us.”
Controversy arose over the exclusion of the Lebanese Forces from the membership of the Constitutional Council, with Speaker Nabih Berri blaming “others” for failing to honor an agreement reached in parliament.
“An agreement was indeed reached in parliament during the election of the first batch of the Council’s members,” Berri had said.
An LF minister complained that ministers of Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri have voted in favor of the Free Patriotic Movement candidate, “implementing FPM chief Jebran Bassil’s desire in this regard.”
The issue revived the dispute” between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the LF, with LF sources describing what happened as a “coup.”
Source: Naharnet
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