Legal expert Hassan Rifai on Wednesday lashed out at President Emile Lahoud for refusing to sign a draft decree declaring a January 14 election in the Metn region to fill the vacuum left by Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel's murder. Gemayel was gunned down in a northern Beirut suburb by unknown assailants on November 21. "By hampering the issuance of laws and decrees, the president will be violating his simplest duties," Rifai told radio station, Voice of Lebanon.The Cabinet sent Lahoud the draft decree Saturday but the president has not signed it yet. "The president should sign the draft decree, otherwise he could be prosecuted according to the Constitution," Rifai said.
Sources close to Baabda Palace had said earlier this week that Lahoud "is not against holding by-elections in Metn, but the president believes that Siniora's government has lost its constitutionality after the resignation of five Shiite ministers last month."
"The president is not entitled to challenge the constitutionality of government," Rifai said. According to the Constitution, Lahoud needs to sign a draft decree announcing elections and publish it in the official gazette one month before the determined date. However, Rifai said that the government could hold the elections at the determined time since the majority of the country's officials had agreed to do so.