Aoun blasts ” shameful behavior of Amal and Hezbollah ministers, says “no money for polls in Lebanon”

Beirut- President Michel Aoun blasted as “shameful,” the behavior of the ministers of his Shiite allies Amal and Hezbollah allies during the latest Cabinet session

He also revealed that the parliamentary elections might be postponed or not held at all due to a lack of funds.

The Shiite ministers’ “objection was not over the appointments themselves and not over the appointees. The issue is that there is a vacant post, the State Security deputy chief, to whom the Shiite ministers want to name a successor, but they did not propose any candidates ,” Aoun said in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper.

“They demanded delaying the appointments until they name the candidates . I gave them a week to provide the information in order to appoint him in the next Cabinet session but they refused, so I was annoyed by their approach,” the President added.

“Chaos ensued but Cabinet approved the appointments. What they did was shameful. What and whom were they questioning?” Aoun said.

He stated that the ministers’ call for postponing the appointments was “unacceptable,” adding that “it is okay if they got upset.”

“Next week we will appoint for them their candidate,” Aoun went on to say, adding that “what happened will not affect Cabinet sessions” and that “certainly there will be no return to boycotting.”

Turning to the issue of elections, the President said the country “does not have money for anything.”

“That’s why I am concerned that the elections might not be held,” he added.

Observers are of the opinion that Aoun is using the lack of funds as an excuse to delay or cancel the upcoming elections, since Hezbollah and Amal are his only allies in the election and things have not been going well between them . Furthermore Aoun’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil who inherited the Free patriotic Movement from Aoun and aspires to replace him when his term expires in October , is totally dependent on his alliance with Hezbollah to win seats in the upcoming election . Observers described Aoun’s excuse as” hitting 2 birds with one stone”