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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Is Aoun's parliamentary coalition falling apart ? |
| 2007-11-18 |
| General Michel Aoun's parliamentary coalition is falling apart. This was confirmed when MP Michel Murr , a leading member of Aoun's Change and Reform parliamentary block decided to take a different position in regards to the presidential elections. Murr, father of Defense Minister Elias Murr announced Friday from Bkirki that he would support any president chosen from a list drawn up by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir even if Aoun and Hezbollah did not agree with him on the name. Murr said he and at least seven MPs from Aoun's Change and Reform Bloc would attend Wednesday's session to "elect a compromise president chosen by Nabbi Berri, Saad Hariri and the patriarch." Another leading member of Aoun's coalition sided with Murr with regards to the presidential elections: A statement issued by MP Elie Skaff's Popular Bloc stressed that Bkirki's commitment to its fundamentals "promoted consensus" over the next president. It said efforts to find a compromise president have reached a "turning point ... when Speaker Berri and MP Hariri paved the way for a constitutional election session which requires agreement in advance between the (government) loyalists and the opposition on a name and cannot go straight to parliament unless consensus was achieved." Aoun , who attacked Sfeir's list even before it was issued, had threatened to block a two-third quorum to elect a new head of state for Lebanon if the president-to-be did not enjoy popular backing and urged deputies from his Change and Reform Bloc to boycott Wednesday's session set to elect a new head of state. "We will not support any president, not even if elected by a two-third quorum, if he does not enjoy popular support," Aoun had said. Aoun did not define 'popular support'. |
| Posted by:Fred |