Harb Criticizes Aoun, Holds him Responsible for Presidential Impasse
Telecom Minister Butros Harb slammed on Monday the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Michel Aoun, considering him responsible for the ongoing presidential deadlock.
“Aoun refuses to engage in any electoral process if he wasn't 100% sure that he will be elected” as the new head of state, Harb said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday.
He lashed out at the March 8 alliance, saying: “The problem is not with the March 14 coalition but with Aoun and his allies.”
“We (the March 14 camp) are ready at any time to participate in any electoral session, even if he will win,” the minister noted.
He held Aoun responsible for “the risks threatening the country due to the vacuum at the presidency.”
Harb called on the Lebanese people to hold the FPM chief accountable for “jeopardizing the political system in order to become a head of state.”
Lebanon has been plunged into a leadership vacuum after Michel Suleiman's presidential term ended on on May 25 with rival political blocs still divided over a new leader.
Over the past two months the parliament convened five times to try to elect a successor to Suleiman but failed during the last four sessions due to a lack of quorum.
The presidential vacuum raised fears that it would affect Lebanon's power-sharing agreement under which the president should be a Maronite, the premier a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.
The cabinet assumes the executive tasks of the president as stated by the constitution until a new head of state is elected.
The next session is scheduled for June 9.
Aoun has not nominated himself to the presidency but the Democratic Gathering bloc candidate MP Henri Helou and the March 14 alliance nominee Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea are the only candidates who have submitted their candidacies.
Harb told Asharq al-Awsat that the March 14 alliance could nominate a figure other than Geagea for the presidency, especially, after the LF leader said that he would withdraw from the race if a deal was reached to back the candidacy of another March 14 alliance member.
“We will not make any new move before we are certain that the rival party will respect the democratic game,” he added.
H.K.
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