Miqati: Cabinet Will Resign When Accord on Electoral Law is Reached

Prime Minister Najib Miqati declared on Thursday that his cabinet will resign once Lebanese parties reach an agreement on the electoral law.

“We will not accept vacuum,” Miqati stated in an interview on al-Arabiya TV channel, explaining that his government helped in maintaining the country's stability and was able to control Sidon and Tripoli's clashes.

"Only after an agreement is reached on the electoral law, the cabinet will resign,” he asserted.

"A new government will then be formed of non-candidates to supervise the 2013 parliamentary elections,” he explained, adding that the next PM must work on holding the elections on time.

Miqati stressed on the need to hold a dialogue session with the participation of all concerned parties to agree on the electoral law.

March 14 alliance had announced following the assassination of the Chief of the Intelligence Bureau of the Internal Security Forces Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan on October 19 that it will be boycotting all national dialogue sessions and the cabinet's works, awaiting Miqati's resignation.

Regarding rejecting to give the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau the full text messages data (SMS), the PM said the cabinet's decision aimed at preserving “people's freedom of communication that is mentioned in the Lebanese constitution”.

Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui announced on Wednesday that the government rejected unanimously the security agency's request, deciding to agree strictly to hand over the content of the “suspicious” numbers.

"The Interior Minister informed us that an official in al-Mustaqbal movement handed him a list of political figures that are receiving death threats,” Miqati announced.

"We have adopted several measures to protect these people but they have to be cautious as well,” he said.

Commenting on Tripoli’s events, the northern leader said it is a reflection of Syria's conflict and “an accumulation of all feuds that are still unresolved”.

"We are doing our best diplomatically and on the ground in cooperation with the army,” the PM said, adding that resolving the problem requires, however, a dialogue between feuding parties.

Tripoli has been the scene of frequent sectarian clashes between the Alawite sect of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Sunnis. This time, the gunbattles broke out after several Lebanese Salafists were killed in an ambush carried out by the Syrian army in Tall Kalakh, after entering the neighboring country to fight alongside the rebel Free Syrian Army.