Hizbullah MP Fneish: Majority meeting privately to elect a new president would be constitutional heresy

Source: Daily Star, 16-04-2007
Hizbullah MP and resigned Energy Minister Mohammed Fneish, speaking at a Hizbullah rally in the South, warned against the majority meeting privately to elect a new president, which he said would be "constitutional heresy."
A presidential election can only be held if the majority reaches an agreement with the opposition, he said.
Fneish blamed the parliamentary majority for plunging the country into a four-month-old political crisis and of serving foreign interests.
"We have grown frustrated with these groups and we no longer rely on their national awareness or their clear outlook on matters. We cannot rely on reaching a compromise with them, as the extent of their subservience to external powers has become very clear," the resigned minister said.
Fneish said the opposition was ready to reach an agreement at any time, but that the majority would bear the responsibility if it continued to monopolize power. The opposition will not allow Lebanon to become a stage on which the US settles regional scores, he added.
On the tribunal, Fneish said: "Neither the United Nations nor its Security Council has the right to take the place of a country`s constitutional institutions," and warned "those who claim to be concerned for Lebanon`s security, among them UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, not to interfere in Lebanon`s affairs or put added pressure on the country."