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House 'will convene to pick new president in September'
By Hani M. Bathish
Daily Star staff
Monday, April 16, 2007



BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri will call a parliamentary session to elect a new president on September 25, MP Ali Bazzi said on Sunday. Speaking to supporters at a rally in the South to commemorate Amal members who have fallen in combat, Bazzi warned that no political decisions would be made in Lebanon until the opposition was represented in the government. The MP praised Berri, "who has sought solutions from all quarters toward reaching a compromise acceptable to all."

"Some in the March 14 Forces do not possess the will, nor the intention to cooperate for the sake of saving the country from the political crisis it languishes under," Bazzi said, adding that the pro-government coalition was working to "place a spanner in the works of any positive proposal."

Bazzi said that the opposition had no problem with an international tribunal to try those accused of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri and others, but with the "unconstitutional" government, "which the speaker cannot allow to be represented in Parliament."

As evidence of this illegitimacy, the MP quoted the preamble to the Constitution, which says that "there is no constitutional legitimacy for any authority which contradicts the pact of communal coexistence."

Also speaking at the rally, Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil stressed the need to achieve consensus over the next president.


[Okay, it seems like behind all this talk that needs to be translated, the opposition will go for a presidential election, but they don't want the prime minister in charge anymore. They want new elections on the parliamentary level. I think that's fair depending on how things are done...There is a stalemate at the moment down there. In addition, the official term of the president of Lebanon is supposed to end at the end of this year.... They know that.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=81459