Aoun Hits Back at Hariri, Says Parliamentary Vote Must Precede Presidential
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed Tuesday that parliamentary polls must precede the stalled presidential vote, noting that “scaring” people of the electoral law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering reflects “unjustified concerns.”
“Some parties are trying to disregard national pacts in the presidential elections. Some parties are bargaining over the presidential seat but we don't care who gets elected, as our battle is aimed at reforming the laws of presidential and parliamentary elections, which would prevent any president from being subordinate to foreign powers,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabieh.
“Foreign powers usurp the president's foreign policy and put him on tracks from which he cannot break free. Thus, electing him by the people would guarantee the interests of people,” Aoun pointed out.
He said “scaring” people of the electoral law “that guarantees their rights reflects unjustified concerns.”
Under the controversial Orthodox electoral law, each sect would elect its own representatives in parliament. Its advocates argue that it would put an end to perceived hegemony by the major sects over smaller ones, while its opponents have warned that it is a recipe for undermining national unity and religious coexistence.
“The mechanism of the proposed law would secure the representation of all minorities of all sects, as there are Christian as well as Muslim minorities that are being deprived of representation under the current laws,” Aoun explained.
“The Orthodox Gathering law does not encroach on the rights of any other sect, and through this justice, national unity and coexistence would be preserved. At that point, no one would feel that someone else is trying to dominate them through stripping them of their (political) representation,” he went on to say.
“How would the popular election of a president breach the Taef Accord? How would the Orthodox Gathering electoral law violate Taef, knowing that it respects the stipulations of the National Pact?”
Asked about al-Mustaqbal movement chief MP Saad Hariri's recent remarks that the presidential vote must be held before the parliamentary polls, Aoun said “Hariri did not propose anything against us, that's why we don't believe that our proposal is targeted against anyone.”
“If he is saying that the president must be elected first, I'm saying the parliamentary polls must come first and the legislature would then elect the president,” Aoun added.
On Friday, Hariri had called for electing a new president "immediately" and holding parliamentary polls afterwards, as part of a roadmap that aims at “protecting Lebanon.”
“The entryway to parliamentary elections is electing a president today before tomorrow because polls without a president mean having a resigned cabinet and preventing the formation of a new council of ministers,” Hariri warned.
“To get accustomed to the absence of a president is a danger that threatens the presidency. The (Lebanese) president is the only Christian leader in the Islamic world and vacuum is against the formula that the Lebanese have agreed on,” he explained.
Turning to regional developments, Aoun saluted "the steadfastness of Gaza's people in the face of the Israeli massacres, which are taking the form of ethnic cleansing aimed at eliminating the Palestinian identity."
"Israel does not want a solution and it seems to be awaiting the disintegration of Arab states so that it can later have a partnership with (the extremist group) the Islamic State (IS) in restructuring it," he added.
"The takfiris in Syria and (Iraq's) Mosul are a crime against humanity that is taking place amid Arab silence and international action that resembles 'offering condolences after death'," Aoun lamented.
He warned that all the choices Christians are being offered by extremist jihadist groups "will eventually lead to their elimination."
"The events in Gaza are aimed at displacing the people who remain in the occupied territories. After eliminating the Palestinian identity, efforts got underway to exterminate the Christian component, and this will end Arab nationalism and replace it with sectarian conflicts," the FPM leader cautioned.
"This way, Israel will manage to win acknowledgement that it is a Jewish state and will get rid of any possible threat against its entity," he explained.
Hundreds of Christians have fled Mosul following an ultimatum from the IS, which is spearheading a militant offensive in vast areas of northern and western Iraq.
Chaldean patriarch Louis Sako said there were still around 35,000 Christians in the city before the IS launched its sweeping offensive on June 9, proclaimed an Islamic “caliphate” straddling Iraqi and Syrian regions, and made Mosul their main Iraqi hub.
He said all had left the city by the time the noon ultimatum expired on Saturday.
In Gaza, at least 593 Palestinians have been killed and 3,640 wounded since Israel launched a fierce assault on Gaza 15 days ago.
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