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March 14 group backs army chief for president |
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Written by Agencies
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Lebanon's governing coalition announced on Sunday that it would accept army chief General Michel Sleiman as a compromise candidate for the vacant presidency, clearing the way to an end to a year-old stand-off with the opposition.
The coalition "announces that it is going back on its initial opposition to an amendment to the constitution and... is supporting the candidacy of General Michel Sleiman for president," said a statement read by former president Amin Gemayel, a leading coalition politician.
The change of policy was intended to "put an end to the vacancy in the presidency" since of state Emile Lahoud stepped down last month without a successor in place, Gemayel said in the statement broadcast by Lebanese televisions.
Sleiman's candidacy requires a change to the constitution as Article 49 bars public servants from acceding to the presidency within two years of stepping down.
Coalition politicians had expressed opposition to any new change to the constitution after their regional foe Syria, which then dominated the country, pushed through an amendment in 2004 paving the way for a three-year extension to Lahoud's term of office.
"We call for the initiation of the necessary constitutional steps," said Gemayel, urging massive support for the compromise move after repeated abortive sessions of parliament to elect a new president amid deadlock between the government and the opposition.
Opposition leader Michel Aoun, who had been the opposition's sole candidate for the presidency, said he too would throw his weight behind Sleiman, but only if he agreed to step down when the next parliamentary elections are held in 2009 rather than serving a full term until 2013.
Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which fought last year's devastating war with Israel and has led the opposition in its standoff with the government, has made its backing for Sleiman conditional on Aoun's endorsement.
The support for Sleiman from all sides -- albeit with some conditions -- finally raises the prospect of an end to Lebanon's protracted political crisis which has dragged on since six ministers quit the cabinet in November last year.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy telephoned his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Sunday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, official media in Damascus said.
It was the second phone call between the two men in less than a fortnight as France, Lebanon's former colonial ruler, has stepped up its mediation efforts.
The previous conversation on November 20 marked the first contact of that level between the two countries since then French president Jacques Chirac broke off contacts after the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, a personal friend, in a Beirut bombing in 2005 widely blamed on Syria.
Sleiman, 59, has served as army chief since 1998. His original appointment came at a time when neighbouring Syria still dominated Lebanese affairs and some have accused him of being a Damascus ally.
But through the year-long crisis gripping Lebanon he has remained neutral and repeatedly called on the army to keep out of politics.
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Madness takes over Lebanon.
Militants are fighting in the streets of Beirut. Military guns are on both sides. What is the prospect of such a situation. Aren't the Lebanese fed-up with wars?
23 November 2007
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud left the Baabda presidential palace without handing over the power to a new president. This is the first time since independence in 1943. |
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