Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: The title of the stage is the election of a new president
Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed the resignation decree of the current provisional government, implementing a previous threat that political forces considered “necessary” given that the government has already resigned under the constitution, which expressly provides that traits of resigned with the start of the new parliamentary era last June. But Aoun attached this to a letter asking Parliament to withdraw the mandate to form a government from President Najib Mikati, asking Parliament to meet to consider this, which is a precedent in Lebanon’s history.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that in the next two days he will convene parliament to meet to discuss the president’s message “according to the rules”, but he felt that the government “resigned according to the article ( 69) of the constitution, which lists the cases in which the government has resigned, including elections, parliament “, and stated that the question” does not need a decision “. Regarding the repercussions of what is happening on the Lebanese situation, Berri affirmed that the title of the next stage is “the election of a president of the republic; Because the void is rejected “, he reiterated his intention to discuss the possibility of starting a dialogue on the subject.
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In his letter, Aoun invited the Chamber of Deputies to “take the initiative to remove the mandate from the government, while it was the one who gave it to him, so that he immediately assigns it to someone else and immediately issues the formation decrees, to avoid the void “. He began the letter by speaking of “(Mikati) refraining from forming a government, while Lebanon is on the verge of leaving the presidency at the end of the term of office of the President of the Republic, which leaves the first place in the state and empties the procedural authority of the person in charge . That is, the Council of Ministers, in the light of the upcoming attributions at all national levels, which do not tolerate any vacancy, given their dangerous repercussions on the people, on the institution and on paper.
In his letter to parliament, Aoun said: “We inform you that the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Muhammad Najib Mikati, has spoken to us during our meetings to form the government, and also expressed his lack of enthusiasm for the composition for various reasons. Among these is that the priority is to elect a president and, if that happens, why should we take the initiative to form a government – or his assertion that there is no interest in forming a new government and taking full responsibility. as head of the case where the presidency becomes vacant, while he does not have full responsibility and the government is in the case of conducting business – and our meeting has been revolving around a series of moving obstacles that empty him of any useful and practical progress in the field of fatherhood and indicates his reluctance to form a government that will appear before your honorable council to gain confidence and put an end to the conduct of business in the strict sense, until he came to greet us in the Republican Palace days before the end of the presidential elections Insisting on the composition, they invited him to meet in the palace in the evening to agree on the enactment of the decrees to form the new government according to the ions of the constitution. However, he did not care, and he did not listen sympathetically, even to the mediators, to make any effort in terms of paternity, which confirmed our certainty that he was unwilling to form a government; Rather, continue to lead a provisional government and bet in time to leave the presidency ”. Aoun added in his letter: “At that moment, it will be impossible to authorize the absence of a full constitutional partner in the formation of the government. What is worse and more dangerous, and on which I absolutely disagree, is that a government that does not assume the competence entrusted to it by the Constitution in article 17 of the same, except in the strict sense of the conduct of business, exercises powers of the Presidency of the Republic as an organ until the election of the new President of the Republic, powers which are exercised by the President under oath and can be assumed by those whose jurisdiction has already diminished due to the lack of confidence of your Honorable Council in his authority. What makes it more dangerous is that the interim prime minister, appointed and abstained from paternity, wants to hold cabinet sessions and lacks the supervision of your council, violating the strict business concept and the separation principle. , balance and cooperation of powers, which is one of the pillars of our parliamentary democratic constitutional system.
“the edge of the abyss”
Aoun called on parliamentarians “urgently and urgently to intervene immediately; Without any delay, the procedures required by this message and the dangerous circumstances that led us to it, then a president of the republic will be elected or a government formed in the remaining two days of our term. Politically, perpetuates the state of discharge, aggravates the void and robs the presidency of the republic, which belongs to others from the cohabitation charter, betting on the exercise of its powers, while article 62 of the constitution entrusts it with a body in the Council of Ministers when its executor is free from any cause, and the provisional government in the sense that it is impossible for it to practice this practice, and it is she who does not exercise her full constitutional competence ”.
Aoun accused Mikati of “withholding paternity and perpetuating disposition, betting on the deadly void of our charter, identity, constitution and entity, which threatens our stability of security”. and consequently; The state of the designated president must apologize, in order to immediately appoint another person, and immediately issue the formation decrees, in order to avoid the void; This is if your honorable council does not take the initiative to revoke the post, since it was he who gave it to him. ‘
The government continues its work
In contrast; Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that “the government will continue to carry out all its constitutional duties, including conducting business, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and regulations sponsoring its work and how to make its decisions under the constitution and in the decree that regulates the work of the Council of Ministers, unless the Chamber of Deputies decides to the contrary “. In a letter addressed to the President of the Parliament Nabih Berri, Mikati promised that “the decree that accepted the resignation of the government, which has already resigned under the provisions of the constitution, has no constitutional value”.
On 3 October, decree no. 10942 which accepts the resignation of the “resigned” government for the beginning of the mandate of the parliament, “without being accompanied by the issuing of a decree assigning the president, which was signed by the women and gentlemen representatives to form the government on the basis of binding parliamentary consultations “. Mikati held that the decree accepting the resignation of a resigned government “undoubtedly has a declarative rather than constructive character, with the ensuing consequences; The most important of which is that the conduct of business becomes one of the duties of the resigned government, or that it is considered under the resigned government, without the need for a decision by the President of the Republic on the matter. Mikati concluded by “informing” the parliament that “the government will follow the conduct of business and carry out all its constitutional duties in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and regulations that patronize its work and how it will make its decisions and stipulated in the constitution. . “
