Plumbly, al-Rahi 'Agree' that Holding Presidential Polls on Time Serves Stability
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said on Tuesday that he agreed with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the importance of holding the presidential polls on time as the means to preserve the country's stability.
“The patriarch and I agreed that stability in Lebanon would be best served by conducting the presidential elections on time on the basis of Lebanon’s constitutional procedures and democratic practice,” said Plumbly following talks with al-Rahi in Bkirki.
President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ends in May.
“I told the Patriarch that the international community remained committed to supporting Lebanon during this period of numerous political, economic and security challenges emanating from the Syrian crisis,” Plumbly said.
Such a commitment was underlined last week in the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon that was held in Paris, the diplomat added.
The group appealed Wednesday for nations to extend pledges of financial help for the country, which is coping with an influx of Syrian refugees, terror attacks and a struggling economy.
Participants at the ministerial meeting in Paris stressed the need "to not only speed up the promised aid but provide additional help."
Plumbly also told reporters at the seat of the Maronite church that his talks with al-Rahi focused on “the urgent need for a functioning, effective and productive government and the importance therefore of agreement without delay on the ministerial statement.”
A seven-member ministerial committee led by Prime Minister Tammam Salam has so far failed to agree on the policy statement over differences between the rival March 8 and 14 camps on the resistance clause.
The political blueprint should be adopted by March 17, when the constitutional one-month deadline for the adoption of a policy statement expires.
11 March 2014, 14:38
05
I completely disagree !
1- We should have held parliamentary elections on time ! This parliament is no longer representative of the people.
2- Only a representative parliament should be allowed to elect a president which in turn would be (in theory) representative of the people.
So no to changing the president before we have a representative parliament. We don't want to be stuck with another president for 2 parliamentary elections to come, especially when he was chosen by an obsolete parliament !
11 March 2014, 15:03
04
Right on. The Parliament term ended last year and a new Parliament should be elected first...... keep the order intact.
11 March 2014, 16:39
03
That's the fault of the Lebanese people voting for the same people over and over again...
It's up to the people to come up with a new breed of politicians.
11 March 2014, 16:48
84
the breed of new politicians you speak of already exists. it's the current stock of left-overs that prevent them from reaching the pertinent positions since lebanon is corrupt as heck from left to right.
so basically I agree with you, but there's essentially no way new politicians will be ushered in because they will lack the funding, airtime, exposure, and the pull they need to exert on people by playing to their fundamental needs. basically, only the old politicians can bring in the new because people are usually afraid of changing the status quo. the FPM, for example, has a lot of young faces joining their ranks.
11 March 2014, 16:59
93
I agree completely. why there isn't much fuss about the fact that the parliament that will go on to choose the president for the next 6 years no longer represent the people. I mean, there can't be any more USURPATION of the peoples' rights than that I think.
11 March 2014, 17:44
94
FX, I like your mind, in many ways, I have been talking in matters similar to your position. But you see, even though what you said are pristine and truly valuable, but in this Lebanon of ours, such things won't go far. We need changes, and God knows we do, but our biggest plague remains, our divisions, we shall forever be a divided people. If it is not sectarianism, it's party affiliation, if it's not party affiliation then leader submission, no matter how we may turn it, we Lebanese it seems can't make it go past one street, let alone one block. Not many think in patriotic terms but otherwise.
11 March 2014, 17:56
46
phoenix, we just debated on another thread about personal attacks, etc. I see you here complimenting fx.990 which is surely your right to do that. However, did you notice his first comment in reply to poster @jerry:
"fx.990 1 hour ago 50
thank you jerry the JIDF employee"
Now, would you be offended if someone referred to you as JIDF (Jewish Inter Defence Force) employee for no reason other than he happened to disagree with you?
11 March 2014, 18:15
84
you're a good lad phoenix, one that truly has the best of the country at heart, one that wouldn't ever allow not one piece of hair from any of the lebanese people to be harmed, and I've long appreciated your tenacious posts from afar. And as much as I appreciate commentary, and yours specially, I always have a bad time digesting what you sometimes post... like this post right here. It's honestly the core problem the country suffers from, division, DEEP division, and it's not even really as clear as I'd like it to be ... it's perpetual, amorphous, always taking on new, unfamiliar forms, rendering people oblivious to it long enough so that it effectively spreads corrosion among the people before changing its boundaries and starting all over again. And, although as true as true can be, it saddens me greatly and... I just can't accept it as being our reality, which makes me despair to a significant extent and so I avoid thinking about it as much as I can muster up the will not to.
11 March 2014, 18:16
94
Though regardless, I really thank you enough for being persistent in reminding people of this.
11 March 2014, 18:18
83
ex-fpm, I did follow up on that conversation and I see it was admitted a joke or two once and again is acceptable. I really do apologize to jerry if it did indeed offend him, but I meant no harm in doing so nor an attack of any kind, I suppose it was a poor way of asking him to elaborate on his views to which I certainly do not disagree with btw.
11 March 2014, 17:05
04
The breed exists but they have no way of reaching out. No voice, no media support.
But this doesn't prevent new movements from rising up like we see anywhere else in the world where the situation is even worst.
And even if new politicians come up, who are they, what is their background, who is backing them ? The question of trust comes up and it's very difficult for Lebanese to trust these new comers and their "agenda".
We need a revolution ... we need a chaotic, uncontrolled, uncentralized civil revolt to bring down all existing political parties and shut down their propaganda medias and bring their politicians to justice !
11 March 2014, 17:11
93
"The breed exists but they have no way of reaching out. No voice, no media support."
my point exactly good sir. No voice, no media support etc. unless it's bestowed upon them by the current stock of politicians.
"But this doesn't prevent new movements from rising up like we see anywhere else in the world where the situation is even worst."
true enough, and it may possibly be the case in lebanon as well, but i doubt the lebanese are strong or dedicated enough to pull it off. maybe if things got a wee-bit worse? I say this because, well, things have been going downhill for a while now and everything remains the same. Maybe if it got worse, who knows?
for your 3rd point, well, they have to start somewhere before going independent right? else they have little to no choice of making it. they'd most likely be magnitudes better than the dinosaurs we have running the country now.
11 March 2014, 17:12
93
"We need a revolution ... we need a chaotic, uncontrolled, uncentralized civil revolt to bring down all existing political parties and shut down their propaganda medias and bring their politicians to justice !"
100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000%
add a tiny pinch of violence too and we're all set for the perfect concoction for a genuinely NEW lebanon.
11 March 2014, 15:04
03
Also I wish Men of Religion stick to Religion and remove obstacles to Civil Marriage and ease their grip on our Society.
11 March 2014, 15:08
02
I agree helicopter 100%. I do not wish to speak in absolutes, and I don't care if Muslims do the same thing. But one of the major beefs I have with the Maronite church, is the fact the leadership get too involved with politics. I know this has been part of our history, but I do not like it. We should have strong religious leads that focus on religion. What we lack is political leaders that represent the people and the church does not need to fill that void. The people do.
11 March 2014, 16:51
84
zahle, being overly idealistic helps no one as it lacks practicality. Either we go forward as a nation together, or we accept the current situation.
