Hezbollah’s arms and corruption in addition to the electoral law were the main focus of the parliamentary session that was held on Friday to discuss the government’s performance.
MP Khaled al-Daher of the Future Movement bloc blasted Hezbollah’s role in Syria’s war
“Syrians in Homs, Qusayr and other regions are being displaced by Hezbollah’s arms, which prompts us to ask Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria so that Syrians can return home,” Daher said.
“How can we build an economy and achieve development in the presence of a political party in Lebanon that is attacking Arab states and creating terrorist groups in contravention of the State’s dissociation policy?” Daher added.
Hezbollah’s MP Ali Ammar hit back at Daher, thanking him sarcastically for his “extreme love for Hezbollah.”
“I wish him more love but I will say a brief statement: we will be where we need to be,” Ammar added, echoing previous statements by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah about the group’s presence in Syria.
MP Alain Aoun of the Change and Reform bloc warned over the electoral law issue:
“We have reached the brink of the abyss regarding the electoral law,” he said adding that the political forces have so far failed to agree on a new electoral law due to three types of “mentalities.”
“The first mentality rejects the formation of opposition minorities inside each sect… the second fears changes to the system… and the third wants to exaggerate its political weight at the expense of others,” Aoun pointed out.
He stressed that “there will be no vote on an electoral law unless the vote conforms to the National Pact and there will be no vote on extension (of parliament’s term) unless the vote also conforms to the National Pact.”
The 1943 National Pact set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on consensual democracy.
“We must intensify the meetings, even if that required the presence and participation of the president, the speaker and the premier. We must not wrap up the meetings without an agreement,” Aoun stressed.
MP Ammar meanwhile warned of the possibility of reaching parliamentary vacuum.
“Vacuum would be the most dangerous crisis. In the absence of parliamentary elections and a parliament, do you think that the government and the presidency will remain (legitimate)?” Ammar cautioned, noting that vacuum would “destabilize” the country.
Phalange Party chief MP Sami Gemayel meanwhile slammed the political forces for seeking an electoral law “tailored” to fit their interests and not the interests of the people.
“How can the government ask people to place their confidence in it after it proposed to rent a power generation ships with a cost of around $1.9 billion?” Gemayel wondered.
Former energy minister and current FM Gebran Bassil and former Finance minister Mohammad Safadi rented from a Turkish company in 2012 a power-generating ship that was supposed to provide about 200 MW , but it took a long time for the ship to arrive because Bassil and Safadi reportedly disagreed on how to split the kickback from the Turkish company.
At the end of the session, Prime Minister Saad Hariri responded to the stances voiced by MPs during the Thursday-Friday session, noting that “the government’s responsibility is to find a new electoral law and spare the country the risks of vacuum.”
“All political forces are focusing their efforts on finding an electoral law in a positive spirit and this positivity is still present,” Hariri said.
“We want a law that addresses the concerns related to representation,” he added.
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