Aoun says pro-government will lose if deal with Saniora not implemented

Source: Agencies, 07-07-2008

General Michel Aoun said the pro-government team did not deserve additional time for the government formation, as they had put people under the impressions that the opposition was behind the mass obstruction of the cabinet formation.

"The opposition did not aim at derailing the government," Aoun said in a press conference following his Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting on Monday.

"After every crisis, even in the most democratic countries, a government that joins the majority and opposition is formed," Aoun said.

Head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun said that he found strange the ongoing delay in the cabinet line up.

"What was the loyalty bloc doing during the past few weeks?" Aoun wondered, commenting on Lebanese Forces chief claims that his bloc has the right to five days to accomplish the mission "since it took the opposition five weeks to agree on its share of cabinet seats."

The General stressed the loyalty bloc was not capable of renouncing the agreement he has reached with Prime Minister-Designate Fouad Saniora concerning the cabinet portfolios. "The loyalty bloc has no right to delay the cabinet line up for five days, or a day, or even a minute," the FPM leader said.

Aoun said the Change and Reform bloc would improve conditions in the ministries it was to take over. "The Ministry of Energy is bankrupt, and we will uncover what is going on inside. We have the ability to improve the situation. The Ministry of Energy is one of the most important ministries in the country, as a large part of production is dependent on energy," he added.

The Lebanese MP also noted that he would continue to reflect the demands of the Lebanese people. "We are about to see what we will be taking over in the ministries, and what we will be leaving behind," he added.

Commenting on Geagea's demands for his representation in the forthcoming government to be "in line with its weight," Aoun said one minister only should represent the Lebanese Forces in the new cabinet.

The General also asked the Justice and Administrative parliamentary committee to speed up its discussions over the new parliamentary elections law in order to adopt is as soon as possible.

On the electoral law proposed by the Free Patriotic Movement, which Aoun also heads, the General called on the Administration and Justice Committee to speed up its work, we he described as "slow."

"We will make the necessary amendments, as our [law proposal] is a reform project that aims at separating parliament from cabinet, which requires a constitutional amendment," he explained.

Aoun said the FPM's law draft proposed a "deputy" for each MP, who would take over in the event the MP became minister. Any member of parliament who takes over a ministry would automatically lose his seat in parliament in the new law, Aoun said. The deputy would immediately take over in the event of the MP's death, he added. Aoun also proposed to amend the voting age.

Yet the Free Patriotic Movement leader also hit a more reconciliatory note this week, expressing his belief that the agreement he made with Prime Minister Fouad Saniora on ministry shares would be implemented, as not implementing their agreement "would have negative repercussions on the pro-government alliance."