Lebanon’s political conundrum continues/استمرارية اللغز اللبناني
Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/September 10/16
Cabinet meet fails to reach decisions while a dejected Aoun denies settlement claim
Beirut: Notwithstanding a month-long huffing and puffing performance, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) failed to force a postponement of the Thursday’s cabinet meeting, though the 16 ministers (out of 24) that attended formed a quorum. Hezbollah ministers were absent as they joined the FPM, the Marada official, and the sole Armenian Tashnag Party representative, along with two resigned ministers, Alain Hakim (Economy) and Ashraf Rifi (Justice Minister), which further weakened Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s government.
The issue of the presidency, which hangs like an albatross around the necks of Lebanese elites, remained at the heart of the dispute and led to a fresh conundrum as Jibran Bassil, candidate Michel Aoun’s son-in-law and minister of foreign affairs, launched what is now a full-fledged constitutional crisis.
Bassil withdrew from the National Dialogue earlier in the week and pledged to no longer attend cabinet meetings, allegedly because Salam — a paragon of compromise that his late father, Sa‘ib Salam, introduced through his “la ghalib la maghlub” [no victor, no vanquished] formula — neglected the National Charter that upholds parity between Christians and Muslims.
In addition to the deadlocked presidency, which a dejected Aoun seems unable to abandon for reasons that have to do with pride, several lawmakers have called for an end to futile dialogue sessions and repetitive meetings that achieved nothing. Alain Hakim and Ashraf Rifi have both invited the prime minister to tender his resignation and transform the cabinet into a caretaker institution since it was no longer able to function as the constitution intended.
Hakim warned that “the country is on the verge of collapse economically, politically and socially,” as he wondered about the government’s credibility. “Resigning is more honourable than this farce,” he tweeted.
For now, the latest conundrum promised to rekindle dormant controversies, including a reassessment of the 1943 National Pact and the 1989 Taif Accords that ended the 1975-1990 civil war. On Thursday, the head of the mostly Druze Lebanese Democratic Party, Talal Arslan, requested a new constitutional convention that, to put it mildly, shook the political establishment to its very core. Any step that overlooks Taif is bound to be highly contentious in this multi-ethnic and multi-religious society that has functioned for decades on a delicate balance-of-power formula.
Ironically, while the FPM’s latest boycott of cabinet meetings was initially linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments, it has now opened a Pandora’s box. That may plunge Lebanon into the unknown.
In fact, not only has Defence Minister Samir Moqbel irritated the FPM’s Bassil when he postponed the retirement of Higher Defence Council chief Major-General Mohammad Khair, but he also dismissed his, Bassil’s, failure to agree on a new candidate from among the three proposed by Moqbel. In fact, the FPM opposes term extensions for all senior officers, including Army Commander Jean Qahwaji, whose mandate ends on September 30. Moqbel pledged to extend Qahwaji’s term though Bassil is now playing on a “political system crisis” because, he maintains, “the other parties are not heeding the FPM’s demands regarding Muslim-Christian partnership”.
Ironically, a rumour circulated on social media channels throughout Thursday evening, which the FPM quickly denied, that alleged senior party figures — meaning Aoun — proposed a settlement involving a new extension for Qahwaji. Addressing Salam on Friday, Bassil admonished the premier, “the son of late Sa‘ib Salam, [who] must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six per cent of a main component of the country (Christians)”. Tammam Salam did not respond and was unlikely to do so if for no other reason than to avoid a shouting match. The illustration nevertheless highlighted Bassil’s methods to chastise at will.
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