FPM walks out of parliament session debating govt. policy statement
The MPs of the Free Patriotic Movement walked out Wednesday of a parliamentary session debating the new government’s policy statement, after Speaker Nabih Berri refused to allow a second MP from the bloc to deliver a speech.
Berri argued that FPM chief Jebran Bassil had consumed all the 30 minutes allowed for each bloc in his remarks on Tuesday.
The MPs Walid al-Baarini, Wael Abou Faour, Ghassan Skaff, Abdel Karim Kabbara, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Ibrahim Kanaan and Qabalan Qabalan had earlier in the day announced that they will grant the government their votes of confidence, with Qabalan speaking on behalf of Berri’s Development and Liberation bloc.
Bassil had on Tuesday declared “positive opposition” to Nawaf Salam’s government, hoping it will not turn into “a fierce and comprehensive opposition.”
“Mr. Prime Minister Salam, we granted you our confidence when we voted for you, and had it not been for it, you would not have become a premier today. Today we remove this confidence from you, because you have not deserved it,” Bassil added, accusing Salam of unfair representation of Christians in his government.
Source: Naharnet
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