LF, Independent March 14 MPs Announce Boycott of Next Week's Parliament Session
The Lebanese Forces and independent March 14 MPs announced on Saturday their boycott of next week's three-day parliamentary session.
MP Butros Harb announced on behalf of the independent lawmakers their rejection of the parliament's agenda and their questioning of the legality of the session.
He explained that President Michel Suleiman should have issued a decree to hold an extraordinary parliamentary session in light of the presence of a caretaker government.
Under these circumstances, he stressed that parliament should only meet in order to tackle urgent draft laws and not regular ones.
Should parliament meet next week, then it would be eliminating the role of the president and government, warned Harb.
The independent March 14 MPs therefore demanded that parliament's agenda be revised.
For its part, the Lebanese Forces bloc later held press conference to explain its position, deeming as illegal a parliamentary session that is held in the presence of a caretaker cabinet and which does not address urgent affairs.
Parliament is expected to convene on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in order to tackle a number of draft laws.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati questioned the legality of the session, seeing as it is not aimed at tackling emergency issues.
Media reports on Saturday said that he had informed Speaker Nabih Berri of his refusal to attend the session unless it strictly addresses emergency affairs, mainly the extension of the term of a number of security and military officials.
A caretaker cabinet cannot attend a parliament session unless it was dedicated to tackle emergency issues, said al-Joumhouria newspaper.
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