The 13 Forces of Change MPs in Baabda on June 23, 2022. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — A statement issued on Saturday by 46 Lebanese MPs states that they will boycott all forthcoming legislative sessions in light of the presidential vacuum, as such meetings would “violate the constitution,” Forces of Change MP Mark Daou tweeted Saturday.
The statement is signed by independent MPs as well as MPs from the Forces of Change, Kataeb, and Lebanese Forces.
In their statement, the 46 MPs support their claim with Article 75 of the Lebanese Constitution, which stipulates: "The Chamber meeting to elect the President of the Republic shall be considered an electoral body and not a legislative assembly. It must proceed immediately, without discussion of any other act, to elect the Head of the State."
In addition to these parties and MPs, the Free Patriotic Movement — the party founded by former President Michel Aoun — is also in principle opposed to the organization of any parliamentary legislative session. But no FPM MP signed the petition on the matter.
The polemic surrounding a potential legislative session amplified when Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called the Parliament Bureau to a meeting on Monday to discuss the agenda of a future session.
The draft law on capital control, a prerequisite of the International Monetary Fund and the international community to unblock financial aid for crisis-stricken Lebanon, is one possible agenda item for any proposed legislative session.
Forces of Change MPs Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba, who were among the MPs to issue the statement, have previously stated that at present "Parliament can only elect a president."
Khalaf and Saliba have been maintaining a sit-in inside Parliament to press for the election of a new president.
Berri has called for 11 parliamentary sessions to elect a president since September. Aoun's term in the post ended on Oct. 31. Meanwhile, the government is serving in a caretaker capacity since no new cabinet was formed after May legislative elections, leaving Lebanon in the midst of an executive power vacuum.