LEBANESE RIVALS SET TO ELECT PRESIDENT AFTER HISTORIC ACCORD
By Hussein Abdallah
Daily Star – Lebanon
May 22 2008
BEIRUT: Lebanese lawmakers are set to elect the commander of the
Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as president on Sunday
after rival political leaders clinched a deal in Doha on Wednesday
to end an 18-month feud that exploded into deadly sectarian fighting
and threatened to plunge the nation into all-out civil war.
The deal that was reached at Doha after four days of intensive talks
will lead to electing Suleiman, forming a national unity cabinet,
and drafting a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections.
The agreement was announced by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa
al-Thani at noon Wednesday as the rival leaders gathered at a
roundtable.
"Some of you took to the streets asking your leaders not to return
to Lebanon without reaching an agreement … I would like to tell
you that your leaders have finally agreed and they will shortly be
on their way back," Sheikh Hamad said, addressing the Lebanese people.
The rival leaders officially signed the agreement shortly after it
was announced. They arrived in Beirut later in the day.
As the good news reached Beirut, people in the capital and in different
areas of the country could not help but show their content and relief.
The feeling of relief was followed by instant action as opposition
supporters began to remove tents at the site of their 18-month
sit-in in Downtown Beirut after Speaker Nabih Berri declared an end
to the protest.
Berri said that ending the sit-in was a gift from the opposition to
the Doha agreement.
The speaker also thanked Qatari and Arab mediators for their role in
helping Lebanese parties reach an agreement.
The long-awaited deal addressed two key issues of contention between
the opposition and ruling majority.
As far as forming a national unity government is concerned, the
opposition has managed to get its long-demanded veto power.
The new cabinet will be made up of 16 ministers for the parliamentary
majority, 11 for the opposition, and three for the elected
president. The 11 ministers (one third plus one of the 30-member
cabinet) are all that it takes for the opposition to block any
government decision to which its is opposed.
However, the next cabinet is not due to last long as it will resign
by default when the parliamentary elections are due next spring.
Meanwhile, the most important deal of all was the agreement reached
on drafting a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections.
The issue of the electoral law was the major hurdle to the success
of the Doha talks after the rival sides, which approved adopting the
qada (smaller district) as an electoral constituency, appeared at
odds over how to divide seats in Beirut.
As the Doha talks were moving close to failure, a late night meeting on
Tuesday of a six-member committee to discuss the electoral law finally
achieved a breakthrough. Following a short session, opposition MP Ali
Hassan Khalil told NBN television that a settlement was in the offing.
The feuding parties have finally managed to agree on dividing Beirut
into three balanced constituencies. The first constituency is a
Christian one with five seats, the second is a mixed one with four
seats, and the third is a Sunni-dominated one with 10 seats.
The formula is likely to secure for parliamentary majority leader
Saad Hariri at least 10 out of Beirut’s 19 seats.
On the other hand, Reform and Change bloc leader Michel Aoun will
have to fight to win the five seats in the Christian district as the
Armenian vote will be a deciding factor in the mixed constituency. Up
until the last minute, Aoun was reportedly fighting to put six seats
in the Christian district, but ended up accepting the 10-5-4 formula.
As for other parts of the country, the two sides agreed on adopting
the divisions of the 1960 electoral law.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora described the agreement as a "great
achievement in … the history of Lebanon."
Speaking shortly after the Qatari emir announced the agreement, Siniora
called on all Lebanese parties to condemn violence and pledge not to
use arms to settle political disputes.
The Doha agreement has committed all parties not to use violence
and stated that security was the exclusive responsibility of the
Lebanese state.
Under the agreement, a dialogue is set to begin in Beirut to address
the issue of the state’s relations with political groups in the
country. Such dialogue is to be held under the auspices of the new
president.
The issue of Hizbullah’s possession of arms was not discussed at the
Doha talks or mentioned in the agreement as the Arab committee decided
to make do with banning the use of violence, a clear reference to
the recent clashes in Lebanon between opposition and pro-government
militants.
The clashes left up to 65 dead and 250 wounded.
Hariri also praised the deal.
"Today, we are opening a new page in Lebanon’s history," he said.
"I know the wounds are deep, but we have no one except each other,"
he added.
Hariri thanked both his allies and opponents for facilitating mutual
concessions and facilitating an agreement.
Hariri reportedly left Doha for Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh,
while other leaders returned to Beirut.
Two other March 14 stalwarts, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and
former President Amin Gemayel, sounded more cautious as they welcomed
the agreement on Wednesday.
Both Geagea and Gemayel agreed that what was achieved in Doha was the
best of all possible options, but stressed that the most important
part was implementing the agreement.
"After ending the sit-in in Downtown Beirut, we will now move to
electing a president … The Parliament, which was closed for more
than a year, will now open its doors," Geagea said. "We will finally
leave the streets and return to state institutions," he added.
Geagea also said that Suleiman would be Lebanon’s first "real"
president after 18 years of waiting, a reference to the influence
Syria exerted on Lebanese politics after 1990 .
"Suleiman will be the first real president after the late Rene
Mouawad," he said.
Mouawad was assassinated in November 1990 shortly after he was elected
as president.
Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad said that the agreement reached at Doha
was not an ideal one, but nevertheless "is enough to take Lebanon
from one stage to another."
Text of the agreement
DOHA: Under the auspices of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa
al-Thani and in continuation of the efforts of the Arab Ministerial
Committee, headed by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh
Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, and the efforts of Arab League
Secretary General Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of Jordan,
United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Algeria, Djibouti, Oman, Morocco,
and Yemen,
And based on the Arab initiative to contain the Lebanese crisis and
in implementation of the Arab-brokered Beirut agreement which took
place on May 15, 2008,
The Lebanese National Dialogue Conference was held in Doha from May
16, 2008 to May 21, 2008 in the presence of the different Lebanese
political leaders, who asserted their will to save Lebanon by ending
the current political impasse and avoiding its dangerous consequences
on national coexistence and civil peace between the Lebanese, and
voiced their commitment to the principles of the Lebanese Constitution
and the Taif Accord.
As a result of the different meetings, discussions, and consultations
that the Arab committee had with all the parties participating in
the conference, the following agreement has been reached:
1 – The Parliament speaker will summon the Lebanese Parliament
to convene, according to rules in force, within 24 hours to elect
consensus candidate General Michel Suleiman as president.
2 – A national unity government of 30 ministers to be formed. It
will comprise 16 ministers from the majority, 11 ministers from the
opposition and three ministers to be named by the new president. All
parties pledge not to resign from the government or hinder its work.
3 – Adopting the qada as the electoral constituency based on the 1960
electoral law, but the qadas of Marjayoun and Hasbaya will continue
to be one constituency and so will the qadas of Westrern Bekaa and
Rashaya and the qadas of Baalbek and Hermel.
As for Beirut, it will be divided in the following manner:
First constituency: Achrafieh, Rmeil, Saifi
Second constituency: Bashoura, Medawar, Marfaa
Third constituency: Mina al-Hosn, Ain al-Mreisseh, Mazraa, Mosseitbeh,
Ras Beirut, Zokak al-Balat.
The parties also agree on forwarding to the Lebanese Parliament the
electoral reforms that were proposed by the National Committee for
Drafting the Electoral Law, headed by former Minister Fouad Boutros.
4 – All parties will commit not to resort to arms or violence in
order to resolve political conflicts.
Resuming dialogue over strength ening state authority over all parts of
Lebanon and defining the relations between the state and the different
political groups in the country.
This dialogue has already started in Doha and resulted in:
– Agreeing that security and military powers to be solely in the
hands of the state and spreading state authority over all parts of
the country so that outlaws will have no safe havens.
5 – Reiteration of a pledge by Lebanese political leaders to
immediately refrain from using language that incites political rifts
or sectarianism and from accusing each other of treason.
This agreement was signed in Doha on May 21, 2008, by the Lebanese
leaders participating in the conference and in the presence of the
head of the Arab Ministerial Committee and its members.