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HOPES FOR CONSENSUS ON BY-ELECTIONS FIZZLE OUT
Daily Star - Lebanon
July 26 2007
Two candidates withdraw as deadline passes
Hopes to forge consensus concerning by-elections in Metn and Beirut
vanished Wednesday after efforts failed to have the Free Patriotic
Movement's (FPM) Metn candidate Camille Khoury withdraw, while seven
candidates will compete for the Beirut seat. Two candidates pulled out
of the contests as the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the
by-elections passed Tuesday evening. Nabila Mohammad Saab and Rafik
Kamel Qassem withdrew their candidacies from the Beirut by-election.
Although seven candidates are running in Beirut, the main competition
appears to be between Future Movement candidate Mohammad Amin Itani
and Ibrahim Halabi, the candidate of former MP Najah Wakim's People's
Movement.
While Wakim is known to be part of the opposition, Hizbullah announced
earlier this week that it would not participate in the by-elections,
after President Emile Lahoud refused to sign the government's decree
calling for the by-elections.
By-elections will be held on August 5 in the second district of Beirut
and in the Mount Lebanon region of Metn to replace slain MPs Walid
Eido and Pierre Gemayel, respectively.
The Metn by-election has drawn the most attention, with former
President Amin Gemayel, the FPM's Khoury and independent Joseph
Mansour Asmar contesting the empty seat of Gemayel's assassinated son.
Khoury on Wednesday visited the headquarters of the Armenian Tashnag
Party in Burj Hammoud, saying: "Tashnag and the FPM are known to
be one big family, for the alliance between the two parties is old
and steady."
MP Michel Murr and the Tashnag Party announced their support on
Monday for Khoury. The FPM thus potentially secured a large bloc of
the Metn's roughly 32,000 Armenian votes. The Metn electorate numbers
162,950 voters.
Tashnag member and MP Hagop Pakradounian reiterated his party's
support of the FPM in the Metn by-election, "unless some sort of
consensus is reached."
FPM leader Michel Aoun has refused all compromise proposals made to
him by Maronite bishops and MP Pierre Dakkache over the past couple
of weeks. Aoun was in Germany on Wednesday and met with German Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The FPM-affiliated Reform and Change parliamentary bloc is expected
to meet with Khoury at the bloc's headquarters in Jdeideh on Thursday.
Despite the narrowing opportunity to reach a settlement for the
Metn by-election, Dakkache pursued his mediation efforts by visiting
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Maarab on Wednesday.
Geagea called on Aoun to avoid an "unnecessary battle in Metn,"
adding that he would support Gemayel if consensus is not reached.
Aoun "ought to avoid any divisions on the Christian scene, because
the by-election in Metn will not change much in the power balance in
the country and will instead lead to skirmishes," Geagea said.
While expressing support for Gemayel's "political stands," the Maronite
Council also launched mediation efforts on Wednesday and expressed
support for the Maronite bishops' mediation efforts.
"Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir ought to be supported in
order to ensure Christian unity, which is much needed during such
difficult times," said Raymond Roufaiel, the head of the Maronite
Council.
Daily Star - Lebanon
July 26 2007
Two candidates withdraw as deadline passes
Hopes to forge consensus concerning by-elections in Metn and Beirut
vanished Wednesday after efforts failed to have the Free Patriotic
Movement's (FPM) Metn candidate Camille Khoury withdraw, while seven
candidates will compete for the Beirut seat. Two candidates pulled out
of the contests as the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the
by-elections passed Tuesday evening. Nabila Mohammad Saab and Rafik
Kamel Qassem withdrew their candidacies from the Beirut by-election.
Although seven candidates are running in Beirut, the main competition
appears to be between Future Movement candidate Mohammad Amin Itani
and Ibrahim Halabi, the candidate of former MP Najah Wakim's People's
Movement.
While Wakim is known to be part of the opposition, Hizbullah announced
earlier this week that it would not participate in the by-elections,
after President Emile Lahoud refused to sign the government's decree
calling for the by-elections.
By-elections will be held on August 5 in the second district of Beirut
and in the Mount Lebanon region of Metn to replace slain MPs Walid
Eido and Pierre Gemayel, respectively.
The Metn by-election has drawn the most attention, with former
President Amin Gemayel, the FPM's Khoury and independent Joseph
Mansour Asmar contesting the empty seat of Gemayel's assassinated son.
Khoury on Wednesday visited the headquarters of the Armenian Tashnag
Party in Burj Hammoud, saying: "Tashnag and the FPM are known to
be one big family, for the alliance between the two parties is old
and steady."
MP Michel Murr and the Tashnag Party announced their support on
Monday for Khoury. The FPM thus potentially secured a large bloc of
the Metn's roughly 32,000 Armenian votes. The Metn electorate numbers
162,950 voters.
Tashnag member and MP Hagop Pakradounian reiterated his party's
support of the FPM in the Metn by-election, "unless some sort of
consensus is reached."
FPM leader Michel Aoun has refused all compromise proposals made to
him by Maronite bishops and MP Pierre Dakkache over the past couple
of weeks. Aoun was in Germany on Wednesday and met with German Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The FPM-affiliated Reform and Change parliamentary bloc is expected
to meet with Khoury at the bloc's headquarters in Jdeideh on Thursday.
Despite the narrowing opportunity to reach a settlement for the
Metn by-election, Dakkache pursued his mediation efforts by visiting
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in Maarab on Wednesday.
Geagea called on Aoun to avoid an "unnecessary battle in Metn,"
adding that he would support Gemayel if consensus is not reached.
Aoun "ought to avoid any divisions on the Christian scene, because
the by-election in Metn will not change much in the power balance in
the country and will instead lead to skirmishes," Geagea said.
While expressing support for Gemayel's "political stands," the Maronite
Council also launched mediation efforts on Wednesday and expressed
support for the Maronite bishops' mediation efforts.
"Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir ought to be supported in
order to ensure Christian unity, which is much needed during such
difficult times," said Raymond Roufaiel, the head of the Maronite
Council.