Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt criticized Tuesday politicians for failing to elect a new head of state, more than a year after President Michel Suleiman’s term ended.
“I’m surprised that the presidential race is passing through garbage containers instead of the ballot boxes,” Jumblatt wrote in a separate tweet.
He also hinted that the garbage plan proposed by Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb could fall apart soon.
Jumblatt hailed Chehayeb’s efforts in resolving the three-month-old garbage crisis and indicated that the PSP minister must not be blamed for the delay in the implementation process.
“A big salute to the tremendous efforts of Minister Akram Chehayeb in resolving the garbage issue,” Jumblatt wrote in a tweet. “In a timely manner, Akram will explain the problems associated with this issue if things reached a dead-end.”
Chehayeb’s plan calls for dividing Beirut and Mount Lebanon’s garbage between landfills in Akkar, the Bekaa Valley and potentially Burj Hammoud, while municipalities prepare to take responsibility for their own waste over the coming 18 months.
There are no indications that Prime Minister Tammam Salam will call for a Cabinet session this week to discuss the trash crisis, amid expectations that the political escalation between the Future Movement and Hezbollah would throw the government into further disarray.
The Lebanese parliament failed again on September 29th and for the 29th time in a row to elect a president to replace Suleiman whose term ended on May 25 last year
As in the past sessions the parliament was unable to reach a quorum because the Iranian backed Hezbollah militant group and its ally MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc MPs boycotted the sessions.
Speaker Nabih Berri a key ally of Hezbollah postponed the election to October 21, 2015 but there are no indications that the president will be elected anytime soon
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