LF, PSP, Kataeb, Independents to Boycott Tuesday's Legislative Session

The MPs of the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party, the Kataeb Party and the parliament’s independent MPs will not take part in Tuesday’s controversial legislative session, TV networks said.

Kataeb chief MP Sami Gemayel announced the boycott of the session in a live video on his Facebook page, noting that the session “will not be public” and “reporters will not be able to attend it.”

“We have been informed that the session’s agenda does not include any law demanded by the Lebanese, such as the law on the judiciary’s independence, the law on recovering stolen funds and the law on lifting bank secrecy,” Gemayel added.

“The priority today is for designating a new premier,” Gemayel stressed, calling on President Michel Aoun to “stop the delay in calling for (binding parliamentary) consultations.”

“In response to the demands of the youths present on the ground, we declare our boycott of tomorrow’s parliamentary session,” he said.

MP Osama Saad, whose supporters are actively taking part in the protest movement that has been sweeping Lebanon since October 17, also announced his boycott of the session.

“Neither the uprising’s demands nor people’s priorities are on the agenda and there will be no discussions on the means to overcome the dangerous, fateful crisis that the country is going through,” Saad said.

MP Hadi Abu al-Hosn of the Progressive Socialist Party meanwhile confirmed that the MPs of the Democratic Gathering will not attend the session, saying “the priority remains for the parliamentary consultations” to name a new premier.

“The first step towards reform should be the adoption of a law on the judiciary’s independence,” he said.

Announcing that the Lebanese Forces will boycott the session, LF leader Samir Geagea stressed that "what's necessary today is to form a salvation government and hold parliamentary consultations" to name a new premier.

"The general amnesty law does not fall under the emergency legislation category," he noted, explaining that parliament can only engage in legislation related to urgent matters in the presence of a caretaker government.

A controversial general amnesty law is on the agenda of the legislative session.

Speaker Nabih Berri had postponed the session last Tuesday over “security concerns.”

Protesters have vowed to prevent the session from being held through blocking all entrances leading to parliament.