Who is Threatening the "Opportunity" of General Suleiman?
Elias Harfoush Al-Hayat - 20/12/07//
General Michel Suleiman, the consensus candidate for the Lebanese presidency, can be envied for his patience and ability to tolerate the continuing political bickering that has so far derailed the opportunity for his move from the Army commander's headquarters in Yarze for the Presidential Palace in Baabda. This is despite the fact that more than three weeks have passed since his name was put forward as a serious candidate for the top position in the state.
Despite the contacts that the Army commander has undertaken recently, and particularly after the parliamentary majority's announcement of its support for his candidacy, contacts that have covered all sides, with the goal of answering questions and relaying reassurances - despite this, we can say that Suleiman has been keen to remain outside the political debate over the need to amend the Constitution and the first government of his presidency. If not for the statement issued by the Orientation Directorate of the Army the day before yesterday, in which it said its stance vis-à-vis all sides would "remain based on fixed national policies and not stances" based on current circumstances, confirming that the military would remain outside the political debate - if not for this statement, the commander of the Army's position would have remained vague regarding the ongoing debate, which is directly connected to him and the role that he is assumed to play, if he becomes president, as the symbol of the state and the protector of its Constitution.
It would be difficult to discuss in detail the estimations and conclusions about the group or groups that the Army leadership was referring to in the statement, especially regarding the "constitutional fatwas, discussions, conditions and counter-conditions" that have accompanied the presidential selection. It might be easier for the Army leadership to say that it means everybody. However, there is one party that has prevented, up to now, the convening of the Parliament to vote on a constitutional amendment, and afterward permit the move to the election phase. This group is doing so on the pretext of rejecting the idea of seeing an "illegitimate" government carry out this amendment. Since the Army commander had already, at the end of the last presidential mandate (of Emile Lahoud), declared his full adherence to decisions issued by the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, his stance should have settled the debate over the power of this government, in his point of view, to issue a draft law to amend the Constitution, despite the objections of the opposition and the (opposition) speaker of Parliament to the legitimacy of the existing government.
As for the "open specifications booklet" regarding the prime minister and membership of the new Cabinet, prior to the election of a president, in what the opposition calls a "inter-related basket" for a solution, the least we can say is that it undermines the confidence that the "consensus" president should obtain from all sides. In addition, this condition strikes at one of the provisions of the Taif Accord and the heart of the Constitution, regarding the prerogatives of the president of the Republic in conducting binding parliamentary consultations. Based on these consultations, the prime minister of the first government of the new presidency will be selected. Then, the decrees to form the Cabinet are issued in agreement and consultation with the president of the Republic. Thus, the opposition, which is raising hell every day when an item has to do with a paragraph from the Introduction to the Constitution, even though its leaderships took the initiative to violate them by withdrawing their ministers from the government - the opposition is now putting forward the condition of agreeing to the election of a new president, in a heavy-duty violation of the Constitution. This directly challenges the prerogatives of the president, even before he is allowed to take up his duties.
We are not asking General Suleiman to talk about things as they are. His current position and security role that the Army currently plays on the ground allow him to do such a thing. However, it is difficult for the person who has aided the resistance, giving it the defensive, field and intelligence support that it required in its operations in the south during the battles for liberation, as attested to by the leaders of the resistance - it is difficult for this person to find himself today confronting the conditions of a political group whose basic support is provided by this resistance, and which might seriously do away with his opportunity to become president… and the opportunity to save the nation along with him.
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