Statement
October 31st, 2022
Saydet El Jabal Gathering held its weekly meeting online and issued the following statement:
Lebanon is at the gates of a constitutional chaos that was already announced by the former President who pledged to protect the constitution, yet left the Presidential palace the same way he entered it, as the leader of a political party that he serves at the expense of the Constitution and sound public institutions, which makes the country step into the unknown.
First: Amidst this exceptional and dangerous situation, Saydet El Jabal Gathering calls the deputies of the nation to convene immediately for the election of a new President pursuant to article 74 of the constitution that stipulates: “should the presidency become vacant through the death or resignation of the President or any other cause, the Chamber meets immediately and by virtue of the law to elect a successor.”
The deputies of the nation solely bear the responsibility of any minute of presidential vacancy if they refrain from electing a new President immediately.
Therefore, parliamentarians, especially sovereign parliamentarians, are constitutionally, nationally, and ethically required to use all means of political, media and popular pressure to make the election of a President a number one priority. No mission shall currently be carried out by the Parliament other than the mission of electing a new President, while convening to read presidential letters or undertake other missions will be a clear breach of constitutional obligations.
The deputies shall either fulfill their national and constitutional obligation to put an end to presidential vacancy or be held accountable for breaking the promises they made to their constituents and for consecrating the exceptional situation that Hezbollah and its allies are trying to establish by disrupting presidential elections, as if this was an inevitable fait accompli.
Secondly: the Gathering renews its refusal of a forced consensus under the title of “dialogue outside constitutional institutions” for the election of a President, as the constitutional mechanisms for presidential elections are clear and do not need any interpretation or explanation. For this reason, the parliament is obliged to immediately elect a new President instead of loosing time in dialogues that are only meant to cover violations committed by Hezbollah and its allies who are disrupting presidential elections and endangering Lebanon’s security and territorial integrity.
Therefore, the Gathering stresses on the eleven items points included in the closing statement of the Conference for Lifting the Iranian Occupation of Lebanon, as they represent the only path capable of restituting Lebanon’s historical, sovereign, and democratic role. The first step to be taken in this direction is the election of a President who carries a national project promoting internal unity and foreign relations, not an Iranian project that isolates Lebanon and consecrates the victory of Hezbollah internally.
