BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri postponed a parliamentary session to elect a new president of the republic to March 11, after the 19th attempt to break the nine-month-long presidential deadlock failed Wednesday.
Like previous attempts, the 19th session to elect a head of state was doomed to fail over a lack of quorum, owing to the absence of an accord between the rival factions on a consensus candidate.
Some 56 lawmakers representing the March 14 coalition attended parliament for Wednesday's session.
There have been 19 sessions over the past nine months that have aborted due to ack of a quorum, raising fears of a prolonged vacancy in the country’s top Christian post.
Lawmakers from MP Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah’s bloc and its March 8 allies have thwarted a quorum since April 2014 by consistently boycotting parliamentary sessions, demanding an agreement beforehand with their March 14 rivals over a consensus candidate.
The failure to pick a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year tenure came to an end May 25, has plunged the country into a presidential impasse that has paralyzed Parliament and is threatening to cripple much the government's work.
Samaha may appear before Hariri court: Lebanon justice minister
BEIRUT: Arrangements are being made for terror suspect Michel Samaha to appear before the international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's justice minister said.
“Samaha knows a lot of things which he did not confess to over fear from the Syrian regime," Ashraf Rifi said in remarks published in Saudi newspaper Al-Watan Thursday.
“Arrangements are being made to bring Samaha before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” he added.
He lamented the delay of Samaha’s trial by a Lebanese military court, saying “some military judges are still afraid of this trial and intend to slow down.”
Earlier this week, Rifi said a decision to move Samaha from his prison cell to a hospital had been cancelled due to a threat to assassinate him over information he possessed about the role of the Syrian regime in alleged terror plots.
Samaha's family, however, cast doubt over Rifi's claims, saying his remarks were a "political intervention to pressure the military court not to release [Samaha] after spending two-and-a-half years without trial."
Military Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghayda last year recommended the death penalty for Samaha as well as a Syrian general and another individual holding the rank of colonel over the alleged terror plot to destabilize Lebanon.
The indictment charged the three men with orchestrating a plot to assassinate Syrian opposition figures and arms traffickers entering Syria from Lebanon.
Kahwagi denies obstructing Aoun presidential bid
BEIRUT: Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi has denied obstructing the presidential aspirations of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, local daily As-Safir reported Thursday.
“The problem is not with me,” Kahwagi was quoted as telling his visitors, according to the report. “Frankly, I tell Gen. Aoun ‘I’m not the one hindering or preventing his arrival to the presidency'.”
“If he [Aoun] was elected [president] I will be at the forefront of the well-wishers at Baabda Palace.”
Kahwagi said the obstacle preventing Aoun from reaching the country’s top seat was “because there are some Lebanese components that refrain from supporting Aoun, and this is not my responsibility.”
“Yes, the Army commander, by virtue of the position he holds, automatically becomes an obvious presidential candidate regardless of his opinion,” Kahwagi was quoted as saying.
The Army chief, however, insisted that he was not running for president.
“I’m not in any way plunged into the presidential battle.”
“When I meet political or diplomatic figures I avoid raising the presidential issue, and if the topic was raised, I discuss it generally in terms of the national interest, without personal considerations,” he told visitors.
But Kahwagi said he would not shy away from his “national responsibility” if consensus was reached on his name.
“I will not run away from taking national responsibility. At the same time, I would not object to any other selected name that may be agreed upon.”
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