Mustaqbal Urges Govt. Comprising No MP Hopefuls, Slams Attack on Hermel

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for forming a “homogenous and effective” cabinet comprising no MP hopefuls, condemning the latest deadly cross-border shelling that targeted the Bekaa area of Hermel.

“The campaign of media and political pressures waged by some political forces against Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam -- in order to draw red lines and put obstacles and preconditions -- might lead to impeding the goal defined by the PM-designate, which is the formation of a national interest cabinet,” the bloc warned in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

“The country's national interest requires everyone to approach the developments and circumstances surrounding Lebanon -- especially in Syria and Iraq – in a deep, calm and wise manner, in order to protect Lebanon and enable it to confront these developments,” the statement added.

The bloc stressed the importance of forming a “homogenous and effective cabinet” compiring no MP hopefuls, whose top priority would be to “stage the parliamentary elections as soon as possible.”

Al-Mustaqbal called for finding an electoral law that “takes into consideration the interests of all parties and ensures proper and fair representation and the freedom of choice.”

It said such a law would combine the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all electoral systems.

Separately, the bloc strongly condemned the latest attacks from the Syrian side of the border against Lebanese villages in the North and the Bekaa.

“These blatant attacks represent a new violation of Lebanese sovereignty and they are condemned and rejected, whichever side they may come from,” it said.

And as it lauded the resolutions of the meeting held at the Baabda Palace in the wake of the cross-border shelling, the bloc said memos should have been submitted to the Arab League and the U.N. long time ago.

The bloc highlighted the “media and political awakening of some parties which have called for confronting attacks from the Syrian side of the border, although attacks against Lebanon and its border, villages and people have not stopped since more than two years.”

“The policy of double standards by some parties in Lebanon is a shameful practice against the country, the people and the national dignity,” the bloc said, noting that “the martyrs of Akkar and Arsal are at the same level of the martyrs of al-Qasr and Sahlat al-Ma'.”

The bloc also reiterated its condemnation of “Hizbullah's involvement in Syria's battles,” saying the party bears the “prime responsibility” for attacks on Lebanon from the Syrian side of the border.

“The lives of Lebanon's youths must be protected and it is unacceptable to throw them in the inferno of the domestic Syrian conflict, and if martyrdom represents dignity and honor while defending Lebanon against the Israeli enemy, dying while defending the Syrian regime is a crime against martyrdom and against the future of Lebanon's youths,” the bloc added.