BEIRUT: Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb Monday proposed adopting a simple majority quorum to secure a legislative session to elect a new president as a way out of the presidential deadlock.
“Just as we concluded from the Constitution that the first round required two-thirds quorum, as well as two-thirds of votes needed for the election of a nominee, then let’s conclude that a simple majority quorum with an absolute majority vote are required for the following rounds of voting,” Harb said, in a news conference called to announce his initiative.
He said that Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc, as well as lawmakers from the March 14 coalition who have been attending Parliament for the presidential election session, together would secure a simple majority quorum for the 128-member house.
Addressing Berri, Harb said changing the needed quorum would eliminate the pretext of an “unconstitutional electoral process.”
The initiative, Harb said, aimed to salvage the republic, avoid a prolonged presidential vacuum and “not allow a single party or sect to control” the electoral process and disrupt the election.
The needed quorum is not stipulated in the Constitution in Articles 73 or 49 but has become the norm.
Some March 8 coalition parties have boycotted nine legislative sessions to elect a new president after securing the quorum for the first round on May 22. They argued that the sessions were futile unless lawmakers agreed on a consensus candidate.
The boycott by MP Michel Aoun, the March 8 group’s undeclared candidate, along with Hezbollah and some of their allies, was meant to put pressure on lawmakers to come to an agreement on a future president but to avail.
Describing the boycott as an “unprecedented move that Lebanon has never witnessed in its constitutional and political practice,” Harb said the March 8 group’s behavior had weakened Lebanon’s ability to confront mounting challenges.
“[They] left Lebanon without a president for 88 days and impacted the work of constitutional institutions and Lebanon’s ability to face dangerous events including terrorism, killings and migration on the part of Christians in the East,” he said.
“Some have feared that disrupting the election of a Lebanese president, the only Christian head of state in the Middle East, is part of a campaign to force the migration of Christians and get rid of their last bastion.”
He also said it was unacceptable for the presidency to remain vacant, waiting for Aoun to change his stance.
Harb commended Berri for his insistence on calling for the legislative session to elect a new president as he expressed hope that the speaker would consider his initiative.
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