Report: Marada Says FPM Seeking Vacuum at Legislative Authority
The Marada Movement has raised concerns of vacuum at the legislative authority and accused the Free Patriotic Movement of driving the country into vacuum and having the parliamentary elections staged based on the controversial majoritarian 1960 law, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.
“The FPM is seeking vacuum despite its repeated assertions that it is not. Its deeds indicate so far a desire to turn to the 1960 law,” Marada sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.
Pointing to the call for an extraordinary parliament session, they said when a session is not called for despite the fact that the regular legislature session was about to end, “it means that chances for a solution and an agreement on a new electoral law are being held back with intentions to go for the 1960 law.”
Speaker Nabih Berri had recently called for an extraordinary parliament session on June 5, which was criticized by FPM officials under claims that the “issue is one of the President's constitutional jurisdictions.”
Berri justified his move saying that although Prime Minister Saad Hariri had sent a draft decree to open an extraordinary session to President Michel Aoun, but Berri did not receive any confirmation from the president which compelled him to call for the June 5 session to avoid vacuum.
Touching on the Berri-Aoun constitutional debate, Marada sources said raising the issue at a time when political parties are still bickering over a new voting system was a “battle at the wrong time and wrong place.”
“It is a mistake to say that the Speaker has trespassed the President's jurisdictions, because an agreement was (eventually) reached and was also signed by the PM”, they added.
Marada criticized the FPM's approach, saying “the President must not take sides. He should be the solution to problems, not the hurdle.”
“Until this moment, we have seen that the FPM has problems with the entire political parties,” they concluded.
Source: Naharnet
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