BEIRUT: Presidential hopeful MP Robert Ghanem said Monday he and MP Michel Aoun oppose amending the Constitution to elect a civil servant, referring to the possible nomination of Army Chief Gen. Jean Kahwagi and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.
His remarks came after his meeting with Aoun, another nominee for the country’s top Christian post.
"After consultations with [former General] Michel Aoun, [we found] we had similar opinions: That it is our right to hold the election on time and to confront [attempts to] amend the Constitution," Ghanem told reporters following the meeting.
"It is not personal, but the issue concerns state building. This Constitution cost us some 200,000 lives to stop the war. It has not been fully implemented and we have amended it on several occasions,” he said.
"Since 1996, when we began amending the Constitution, the state has been in decline,” he added.
Neither Salameh or Kahwagi have announced their candidacy for the presidency, but the two figures are seen as consensus candidates compared to other nominees.
Constitution stipulates that judges and grade one public sector employees seeking nomination should quit their posts two years prior to the election.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara said said Bkirki would only support amending the Constitution to elect Salameh or Kahwagi if lawmakers agreed on their nomination.
During his brief chat with reporters, Ghanem, an independent MP allied with the March 14 coalition, refused to answer questions as to whether he considered himself a consensus candidate.
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