Report: FPM Ministers Considered Resigning from Cabinet Following Presidential Vacuum

The Free Patriotic Movement ministers had allegedly considered resigning from cabinet in light of the vacuum in the presidency given the end of President Michel Suleiman's term without the election of his successor, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anbaa on Sunday.

The FPM's proposal was however met with the opposition of its allies Hizbullah and the Marada Movement.

This has prompted the FPM ministers to only attend cabinet sessions that are aimed at discussing issues that concern them and the movement, it added.

FPM MP Alain Aoun said that the ministers will act “according to the crisis caused by the presidential vacuum.”

This could mean only attending cabinet sessions that tackle issues and files that concern these ministers, he explained.

The move incurred the criticism of a Mustaqbal bloc MP, who was not named by the daily, saying that the FPM ministers will only cater to affairs that matter to them and disregard ones that don't.

Culture Minister Roni Araiji of the Marada Movement meanwhile told al-Anbaa that the members of the movement will not resign from the government.

Suleiman's six-year term ended on Saturday with parliament failing to elect his successor due to the ongoing differences between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over the elections.

The dispute prompted the March 8 forces to boycott the majority of the presidential elections sessions.

M.T.