Lebanon Vote Set for Another Delay

Source: Alalam.ir, 28-12-2007
BEIRUT, Lebanon--MPs from both sides of the political divide in Lebanon said on Friday that this weekend's parliament session to vote for a new president will be postponed in the 11th failed bid to elect a head of state.
Marwan Hamadeh, a prominent figure in the parliamentary majority, told the Voice of Lebanon radio station: "The session will definitely be postponed."
MP Ibrahim Kanaan, a member of the Free Patriotic Movement of opposition leader Michel Aoun, told AFP: "How can it be held when there is no agreement on anything?"
Lawmakers are set to meet on Saturday in the 11th attempt to vote for a new head of state, but many expect Lebanon to remain without a president until after December 31 when parliament will be in recess.
Many MPs contacted by AFP were not in the country on the eve of the session, and some were not due to return in the near future, their aides said.
Lebanon has been without a president since Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term on November 23.
Both sides have agreed in principle to elect army chief Michel Sleiman as a compromise president.
But they remain at odds on how to amend the constitution to allow a senior public servant to assume the post, on who would lead a new government and how many cabinet seats each camp would get.
"We did not agree on the mechanism of the necessary constitutional amendment and we did not reach any political settlement as there were not even negotiations this week" between the two feuding parties, Kanaan said.
MP Ali Bazzi from Speaker Nabih Berri's Development and Liberation bloc, also said the session, scheduled to take place on Saturday, could well be postponed.
The MP also criticized the government's move to amend the Constitution as "worthless and inappropriate."
"Speaker Berri has not received nor will he accept to receive any draft bill from a government he does not recognize as legitimate and the recent government decision is worthless and will change nothing politically or constitutionally, but will only serve to increase complications," Bazzi told NBN television on Wednesday.