The “Strong Lebanon” bloc held on Tuesday its periodic meeting chaired by MP Gebran Bassil and discussed its agenda, following which some decisions were taken and the following statement was issued:

The bloc categorically refuses the fact that the “amputated” government convenes the Council of Ministers in an unconventional and unconstitutional session under the pretext of ensuring electricity.

It considers that constitutional solutions are available to facilitate the purchase of fuel through the itinerant decrees, thus guaranteeing the interests of the citizens without allowing the consensual and constitutional violations which widen the gash and take the country towards the unknown.

Continuing to hold sessions in the Council of Ministers raises questions about the intention to normalize the presidential vacuum and not to demand the elections in a serious way.

The bloc holds the ministers who attend the sessions responsible for undermining the consensus and violating the Constitution.

The bloc considers that in order to be able to really emerge from this situation of emptiness and crisis, it is imperative to agree on a candidate who will gather the broadest possible consensus among the parliamentary forces on the basis of an approved program by all, a program that guarantees the reforms as well as the success of the new mandate.

On the other hand, the fact of insisting on futureless choices constitutes a kind of obstruction to the presidential elections. The election of a President of the Republic requires in the first place a real examination of the provisions relating to the presidential priorities approved by the “Strong Lebanon” bloc, based on which it will be possible to be able to move to choice of the appropriate names.

In this context, the bloc affirms its openness to all parliamentary blocs to agree on the program and the profile of the candidate, before anyone tries to impose on the Lebanese his decision to elect the president.

The bloc holds the Superior Council of the Judiciary, in particular its President, Suhail Abboud, responsible for the obstruction of the investigation into the Port of Beirut file by his politicized and illegal positions, arbitrarily neglecting to take the necessary measures in order to convene the Court of Cassation and preventing the meeting of the Superior Council of the Judiciary in accordance with its legal provisions, topped by the flagrant harassment of certain people.

This suspicious attitude interrupts the course of the investigation, obstructs justice and inflicts an unprecedented injustice on the families of the victims and on those unlawfully arrested.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon