Gemayel Acknowledges Discrepancies among March 14 Camp on Legislation

Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel recognized on Sunday the differences among the various parties of the March 14 alliance regarding next week's legislative session, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah.

He told the daily: “The discrepancies are not unusual, because the alliance is not a single bloc, but each side has its own assessment of affairs.”

“The differences however do not hinder our absolute understanding over fundamental national issues,” he added.

“The legislation that some sides are calling for however is dangerous because it will marginalize the presidential elections” and the ongoing vacuum in the presidency, warned Gemayel.

“Who has the authority to deem whether an issue requires necessary legislation or not?” he wondered on some political parties' statements that they are willing to attend legislative sessions that tackle pressing affairs, such as the new wage scale.

Holding legislative sessions in light of the presidential vacuum will “legitimize the vacuum,” he cautioned to the daily.

“Once the lawmakers grow accustomed to such violations, then all sorts of violations will become permissible,” he said.

“We should therefore be strict in our implementation of the constitution,” remarked the Kataeb Party chief.

The party has repeatedly stressed that it rejects holding legislative sessions in light of the presidential vacuum.

Other blocs, including its ally the Lebanese Forces, have been demanding that the session be held to approve pressing issues.

Gemayel also reiterated his position that the presidential candidates who failed to be elected after May 25 should clear the stage for other figures.

“Given the circumstances, stubborn stances will be harmful. It is as if a candidate is making the lawmakers elect him president by force,” he added.

“This is not democracy,” he said.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 25 when Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended over the failure of the rival MPs to agree on a compromise candidate.

LF chief Samir Geagea is the March 14 alliance's main candidate while Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun is unofficially backed by the March 8 alliance.

Aoun has not announced his candidacy, claiming he would do so only if there was consensus on him.