Legal Measure Allows Suleiman to Rule as Acting President
President Michel Suleiman is mulling a legal measure to exercise his authorities as acting head of state if MPs failed to elect a new president by May 25, reports said Monday.
According to al-Akhbar newspaper, Suleiman asked Shadi Karam, one of his advisers, to draft a clause that would allow him to stay in power.
It quoted sources as saying that Suleiman claims the government of Premier Tammam Salam would not be able to fill the vacuum and that the country's top Christian post should be dealt with the same respect made to the speakership and the premiership.
Under the National Pact of 1943, the presidency is reserved for Maronite Christians. The prime minister should be a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.
An Nahar daily said that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will intensify his contacts this week to pressure MPs into electing a new president.
If the parliament failed to choose a successor to Suleiman before the expiry of his six-year term on May 25, then efforts will be exerted to keep him at Baabda Palace pending the election of a new head of state, it said.
Western countries will also request the different parties to elect a president.
An Nahar quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the Ambassadors of the U.S., France and Britain are carrying out routine weekly meetings to discuss the presidential deadlock.
G.K.
H.K.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://cdn.naharnet.com/stories/en/130149 |