Saturday, November 24, 2007

Aoun back in presidential running after March 14 rejects 'salvation initiative'

Aoun back in presidential running after March 14 rejects 'salvation initiative'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, November 24, 2007


Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Michel Aoun said Friday that he was back to being a presidential candidate, hours after the ruling March 14 coalition rejected his "salvation initiative" as "unconstitutional." "We came up with this initiative after various foreign powers called on us to save the country from an imminent vacuum ... and it is really unfortunate that they [March 14] dealt with it with utter negligence," Aoun said Friday evening. On Thursday the FPM leader had offered a conditional package to end the deadlock over Lebanon's presidency, proposing that he withdraw his candidacy in favor of a neutral figure to be named by him, who would serve an abbreviated presidential term. At the same time MP Saad Hariri, leader of the majority in Parliament, would name a neutral prime minister to head a government of national unity. Under the terms of the deal, March 14 would receive 55 percent of the seats in Cabinet, while the opposition March 8 camp would get the rest. The four senior-most positions, however - defense, finance, foreign affairs and interior - would be evenly split.

The FPM leader warned, however, that his proposal was valid only until 10:00 p.m. Friday, two hours before incumbent Emile Lahoud's term expired. As repeated the caveat as a deal began to look increasingly unlikely on Friday. "By 10 p.m. I will return to being a candidate for the presidency," he said, adding that "by tomorrow many changes will take place." Under his proposal, the new president would only have served a two-year term before stepping down after parliamentary elections in 2009. The parliamentary majority, whose leaders met late Thursday, dismissed Aoun's plan without directly mentioning it. Following a meeting at the Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel in Beirut, leaders of the March 14 coalition urged all of the country's MPs to take part in the electoral session in Parliament that had been scheduled for Friday. "Parliament is the sole authority that elects presidents, chooses premiers and grants governments votes of confidence," the March 14 statement said, in a thinly veiled rejection of the formula proposed by Aoun. "The March 14 forces will not be lured into proposals that require the adoption of unconstitutional options," the statement added. - With agencies

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