On Wednesday, with the intense conversations amid President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the struggles to formulate a government and conclude the political deadlock riveting Lebanon reached a dead-end.
When Aoun’s political party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a supporter of Hezbollah, proclaimed that it had precluded Berri’s initiative to form a new government, the parliamentary speaker replied with a stalwartly rhetoric condemning the Lebanese President of doing “what he has no constitutional right to do” by maintaining on the stalling third in the government.
Aoun has claimed a third of all cabinet seats, effectually giving his team veto power over government decisions. Berri held his own position and had put forward the initiative “to help the Prime Minister-designate x,” and indicted Aoun of backing out of a recruit to help the formation of a fresh government.
“The president has no constitutional right to even one minister. He does not participate in voting, so how can he indirectly have votes?” Berri enquired. “The country is collapsing, institutions are deteriorating, and the people are suffering,” he added.
The parliamentary speaker addressing Aoun, held: “You openly say that you do not want Hariri as Prime Minister. This is not your right; the decision to assign him is not yours, and the Parliament has voiced its decision loud and clear.”
In response to the Speaker’s words, Aoun’s office released a statement disapproving “statements and positions from various officials interfering in the process of forming a government.” The statement also stressed what it demanded was “abuses and direct targeting of the powers of the President.”
With expectations of a new government sunk, government and private sector trade unions called for a strike on Thursday to stand for Lebanon against the political stalemate and danger of economic collapse.
