Rifi slams ‘Package Deal’ as ‘coup against constitution’

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi slammed the so called “package deal”which he described as a coop that seeks to alter the constitution and the 1989 Taef Accord.

“We reject the coup against the constitution and we will face it, whether it disguises itself as a so-called package deal or reveals its true face through seeking to torpedo the Taef Accord,” the minister who resigned his post said.

“We will carry on with the confrontation against the approach that is destroying the State and the values of the republic,” Rifi added.

“When the need arises, we won’t hesitate to use all peaceful means to thwart the coup and our people are ready to heed the call, the same as they did on February 14 and March 14, 2005,” Rifi went on to say in reference to the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri on Valentine Day and the Cedar Revolution that followed on March 14 2005 .

The minister said he will not allow the “mini-state” to “give itself the right to appoint a president, name a premier, usurp the parliament, and turn institutions into paralyzed puppets, ” a possible reference to Hezbollah and the so called package deal proposed by its ally Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri

“We will not be intimidated by weapons and threats as long as we defend the right of the Lebanese to preserve their State and its institutions, and the Lebanese are capable of confronting this threat,”Rifi went on to say.

“We will not be intimidated by weapons and threats as long as we defend the right of the Lebanese to preserve their State and its institutions, and the Lebanese are capable of confronting this threat:”Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi.

Speaker Berri has recently proposed a so-called package deal that involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government.

Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament’s current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.