BIKFAYA: A leading member of the winning alliance in Lebanon’s parliamentary election this month has ruled out giving veto power to Hezbollah and its allies in the opposition.
Former President Amin Gemayel said he was opposed to extending an existing power-sharing arrangement giving Hezbollah and its allies just over a third of seats in the Cabinet, amounting to an effective veto over government decisions.
“If the opposition prefers not to participate, that’s its right. We offer participation, but not obstruction.
Participation does not mean veto power,” Gemayel, leader of the Christian Phalange Party, said.
Demands by Hezbollah and its allies for veto power had been at the heart of a political crisis that pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war last year. The Shiite group has been concerned that its US-backed rivals, if left alone to govern, would use the Cabinet to take steps against its army.
Suleiman Franjieh, one of Hezbollah’s main Christian allies, told Reuters on Saturday his coalition would not take part in the government unless it kept the share of seats it had in the outgoing Cabinet. The formulation was agreed as part of a deal that defused last year’s political crisis.
Hezbollah, the most powerful faction in Lebanon, said last week it had yet to agree a common stance with its allies on the new government.
“We won with a big margin and it’s natural that we take government without an obstructing veto,” said Gemayel, part of the anti-Syrian “March 14” alliance headed by Saad Al-Hariri.
Gemayel, head of state from 1982 to 1988, said he supported a wider role in government for President Michel Suleiman, elected last year as a consensus candidate. “The president can play the role of guarantor,” Gemayel said.
Hariri, a billionaire businessman is front-runner to lead the new government. “He is our natural candidate,” Gemayel said.
Gemayel’s Phalange party, one of an array of Christian factions, won five of Parliament’s 128 seats in the election.
Gemayel’s son Sami and his nephew Nadim were both elected.
Gemayel’s eldest son, MP and government minister Pierre Gemayel, was one of six anti-Syrian figures assassinated in a period of political turbulence following the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006, is widely acknowledged as having superior military capability to the weak Lebanese state.
Gemayel has been one of the most vocal critics of Hezbollah’s arsenal, arguing that it undermines the state. He said there would be no quick solution to the issue.
“There is not one of us convinced that the issue of the weapons of the resistance will be resolved immediately, or that it will be resolved by force and without dialogue,” he said.
