Suleiman Urges Formation of Govt. to Hold Presidential Elections Even if it Doesn't Enjoy Confidence
President Michel Suleiman stressed on Monday that the presidential elections will be staged as scheduled in spring 2014.
He therefore demanded the “formation of a government that can hold the elections, regardless if it does not enjoy parliament's confidence.”
He rejected however the formation of a “de facto government.”
Suleiman's six-year term ends in May, but there are fears that the differences between the March 8 and 14 camps would lead to a vacuum in the country's top post.
Addressing demands to hold a cabinet session to tackle the petroleum file, Suleiman said: “This issue alone is not enough to convene government.”
“I have not yet received a request from caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati to call cabinet to session,” he revealed.
Moreover, he remarked that convening parliament to extend the term of any official “is not justified.”
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed on Monday all-out support for the cabinet to hold a session to tackle the delicate situation in the country and the petroleum file.
Miqati had told several newspaper on Monday that he is mulling to hold a cabinet session after Lebanon remained without a new government for more than seven months, and he did not rule out putting two controversial oil decrees on its agenda.
He added that oil and gas exploration was at the top of the priorities list.
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil had been urging him to invite ministers for a session to approve two decrees that call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.
Delays in issuing the decrees could postpone offshore drilling and exploration.
The main point of contention lied in Miqati who argued that the constitution did not authorize him to hold a session for that purpose and insisted that it lacked political consensus.
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