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Why Do We Need Early Elections?


February 08, 2007, General Michel Aoun

In the midst of this crisis looming over Lebanon and laden with disputes and quarrels, all logical thinking evaporates and instincts and emotions take over conscious reasoning in determining the reasons, components, results and solutions of this crisis.

This is why it becomes primordial for all those working in the public sphere and holding a position of responsibility to give their opinion in writing, as this form of expression can better set ideas and facts straight and better precise the author?s responsibility with respect to the form and content of the text.


The crisis that we are witnessing today is made up of several factors, detached at times and intertwined at others, that are nevertheless the outcome of an ill-intentioned will that was able, in a certain phase, to distort the political reality and consequently led to the corruption of normal interactions between the constitutional institutions and to their absolute paralysis. Today, we find ourselves lacking functional constitutional authorities that are capable of performing their duties as per the edicts of our democratic system.
 

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Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:11pm)
Despite all that has been stated in this article, we find ourselves receiving advice from the great minds of democracy in the world to work within the Constitutional institutions that have become, thanks to the Government, devoid of any content. This is why we have to return the advice with appreciation and remind them that Beirut, the Mother of Laws, knows very well how to interpret constitutions and laws. Beirut does not require guidance but rather to be free of interference in its affairs? So we ask you all to stop interfering and allow us, at least, to deal with our affairs slightly more than you do.

Rabieh, February 7, 2007
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:11pm)
Finally, the Government has fallen into the trap of the forbidden by violating Article 95 after the resignation of the Shiite ministers. Thus, it has lost its legitimacy in accordance with paragraph ?j? from the preamble of the Constitution, which states that ?There is no constitutional legitimacy for any authority which contradicts the ?pact of communal coexistence?.? In addition to that, the entirety of the Christian presence in the Government was lacking its representational quality and bearing false witness to true Christian participation - a participation as ineffective as it was in most cases under the Syrian mandate.
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:10pm)
As soon as the President of the Republic signed the decrees pertaining to the formation of the Government and it began its work, signs of rebellion against the Head of the State began to emerge from the side of the Government and the ministers who conspired with some ambassadors to boycott the President and to deal directly with the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Prime Minister allowed himself to receive direct mail that should be addressed to the President, such as the invitation to The Francophonie Conference. In this respect, another article of the Constitution has been desecrated, Article 49.

The Government did not limit itself to violating the Constitution but went ahead with completely ignoring its Articles when it attempted to ratify the International Tribunal; hence, violating, once again, Article 52 of the Constitution, which states that The President of the Republic negotiates and ratifies international treaties.
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:10pm)
Let us begin listing chronologically the constitutional violations and the disdain showed to this charter that contains the fundamental texts for the practice of government and that ought to be the point of reference for every Government that strives to preserve its legitimacy. Upon the end of the ?vote of confidence? session, the Government annulled the Constitutional Council, which it has promised to activate. As a result, it has violated Article 19 of the Constitution. In the beginning of the parliamentary session in October 2005, the Government had to present the Annual Budget of 2006, yet it failed to do so, and failed again in 2006 when it did not present the Budget of 2007. Thus, it has violated Article 83 of the Constitution.
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:09pm)
Having accepted and transcended so far all the transgressions mentioned in this article, it remains our obligation to inform the reader of the methodical destruction of all aspects of government. By that I mean the Lebanese Constitution, which has been violated in its text, spirit, conventions and traditions. Without the Constitution, we find ourselves driven back to obsolete primitive systems or modern mafia-like ones in which the ruling majority would be no more than a tribe from pre-Islamic times or a Chicago mafia family from the 1930s.

Numerous transgressions against the Constitution have happened otherwise we would not have allowed ourselves to use such descriptions to portray the status of government.
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:08pm)
Now, moving on to the performance of the Government, we find that this Government has been all words and no action. It has been unproductive and was not able to accomplish any promises it has made and has sometimes even acted in contradiction to those promises. It has washed its hands of the statements it wrote in the Ministerial Statement, especially with respect to the advance political cover for the acts of the Resistance and the activation of the Constitutional Council. Further, the Economic Paper that it had prepared for the Paris III Conference was neglected by the attendants, who adopted more serious and more effective alternatives and principles. One must also mention the deviant manner in which the Government dealt with the promised new Electoral Law, ignoring that it is a reform obligation and using it as a bargaining tool as if it were a commodity to be traded off. What makes matters worse is the politicization of the Administration that has become an electoral tool promoting political and confessional discrimination instead of being for all Lebanese on equal footing.
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:07pm)
In democratic systems, it is known that parliamentary elections are organized after the fall of major political alliances forming the ruling majority. This is precisely what happened with the Quadruple Alliance that was at the root of the last parliamentary elections and formed the basis of the current Government.

It is also common in democratic systems to take recourse in a referendum via elections after the occurrence of critical events in the country. How could this not be the case after the country has witnessed a war that nearly severed its linkages and was accompanied by discrepant and clashing political positions that altered the opinions, orientations and even convictions of the citizens?

In addition to all the above, one must not forget the massive popular demonstrations that formed, according to historians and observers, an unparalleled phenomenon and the sit-in, which remains unprecedented in our history and which has entered its third month.
 
Login to find out (February 9, 2007 at 6:07pm)
Undoubtedly, parliamentary elections form the cornerstone for the establishment of a governmental authority, and any flaws tarnishing this operation will reflect on all subsequent events. The main flaw that affected our democracy after the withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon is the Electoral Law under which the elections took place and managed to bring to office those who lost within their own constituencies while casting aside those who won in their constituencies. These elections spoiled the notion of just representation and the spectrum of political forces that ensued was fundamentally flawed. The electoral process was further accompanied by other flaws represented in transgressions that form a basis for the annulment of the results, however the dissolution of Constitutional Council has prevented looking into and deciding the outcome of all contested parliamentary seats. Thus, a delusive ruling majority was established and would have certainly become a minority if the Constitutional Council had ruled in the matter of the contested seats.