BEIRUT: A row that deepened Monday over the constitutionality of Parliament sessions is threatening to throw the state’s security and legislative institutions into paralysis with all the dire consequences this entailed on the country’s stability, political sources said.
The long-simmering tension broke out into the open after Speaker Nabih Berri, faced with a boycott from a majority of lawmakers, postponed a controversial Parliament session until mid-July as the rift over the constitutionality of such sessions with a resigned government threatened to throw the legislative body into disarray.
Political sources said the ongoing legal debate over the Parliament sessions was in fact a political row which clearly emerged through statements made by a number of lawmakers who support and oppose Berri.
The sources referred to Future MP Ahmad Fatfat who slammed Berri, calling him a representative of the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition. Speaking to reporters in Parliament, Fatfat also said Berri was unjust.
“The Sunni sect can no longer accept the current situation,” he said.
Fatfat’s remarks are seen as part of “a new duel” between the Hezbollah-Amal bloc and the Future Movement with unforeseen consequences on the entire situation, the sources said.
Political signals indicated that following last month’s Sidon clashes and the Lebanese Army’s military operation that crushed Salafist preacher Ahmad Assir’s movement, the Future Movement has decided to target Berri, who until last week, was a symbol of moderation and communications among all the blocs, the sources said.
They added that this was manifested in the coordinated stance adopted by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and former prime ministers Fouad Siniora, Omar Karami and Salim Hoss in defending the premiership post.
If this matter is not tackled before the next Parliament session on July 16, it will lead to crippling Parliament’s activity after the executive authority’s work has been obstructed with the resignation of Mikati’s government on March 22 and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam’s efforts to form a new Cabinet have stumbled, the sources said.
They added that the tense political situation entailed a danger of not extending Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi’s term, a development that would put the military institution into a vacuum.
According to the sources, the Future Movement’s targeting of Berri, after it had focused on Hezbollah’s arms and its secretary-general in the past, might set the stage for a new era of clear political polarization.“This new political and security clash between the Future Movement and Speaker Berri is more serious than the March 14 coalition’s demands against Hezbollah’s arms. If this clash is not averted, it will definitely lead to a state of paralysis,” the source said.
The tug-of-war over the constitutionality of Parliament sessions with a caretaker Cabinet pits Berri against Mikati, who is backed by the Future bloc and its March 14 allies, and threatens to cripple the legislature’s role in passing urgent draft laws such as a proposal to extend Kahwagi’s mandate.
Due to a lack of quorum, Berri postponed the sessions that were scheduled this week until July 16-18 to discuss and approve the same distributed agenda.
Berri had called the sessions for this week to consider some 45 draft laws, including a proposal to extend Kahwagi’s term, which expires on Sept. 23, by raising the retirement age of top military and security officials.
In boycotting the sessions, Mikati and March 14 lawmakers contended that except for a proposal to extend Kahwagi’s mandate, none of the 45 draft laws put on Parliament’s agenda were deemed urgent to warrant legislative sessions.
Mikati said Parliament legislating with a resigned government was unconstitutional and would undermine the role and prerogatives of the executive branch of power – the Cabinet.
Therefore, Mikati is studying with President Michel Sleiman the benefits of signing a decree for an extraordinary Parliament session with specified and essential items on its agenda, something that Berri has rejected.
Mikati stood firm on his position, saying following talks with Berri that with the presence of a resigned government, legislation should be confined only to “urgent matters.” He said his position was based on legal consultations.
“I have legal consultations that I am holding onto. It is true that Parliament is the master of its own authority and has the right to legislate at all times. But when there is a caretaker government, legislation needs to be confined only to essential and urgent matters,” he told reporters after meeting Berri in Parliament.
Meanwhile, Sleiman underlined the need for a political understanding among the major parties on the agenda of the session before talking about the constitutionality of it, Baabda Palace sources said. They said Sleiman considered that the current tension added urgency to the need for the feuding parties to engage in dialogue in Baabda in tandem with efforts to form a Cabinet of national unity or national interest as Salam wanted. – Additional reporting by Antoine Ghattas Saab
