RIVAL CAMPS DIG IN HEELS OVER METN BY-ELECTIONS
The Daily Star, Lebanon
July 25 2007
Opportunities to negotiate a settlement concerning the Metn by-election
dwindled on Tuesday, with rival parties showing unwillingness to
compromise despite mediation efforts led by Maronite bishops and MP
Pierre Dakkache. Lebanese newspapers reported Tuesday that consensus
was difficult to reach and a battle in the Metn was inevitable.
"While [former] President Amin Gemayel sees the by-election as a
means to reclaim the seat of his slain son Industry Minister Pierre
Gemayel, the Free Patriotic Movement [FPM] headed by MP Michel Aoun
considers the by-election a means to measure its popularity on the
Christian political scene," said an editorial on Tuesday in the
As-Safir newspaper.
By-elections will be held on August 5 in the second district of Beirut
and in the Mount Lebanon region of Metn to replace slain MPs Walid
Eido and Gemayel, respectively.
MP Michel Murr and the Armenian Tashnag Party expressed their support
Monday for the FPM’s candidate in the Metn by-election. The FPM thus
potentially secured a large bloc of the Metn’s roughly 32,000 Armenian
votes. The Metn electorate numbers 162,950 voters.
"My alliance with the FPM and Tashnag is permanent and long-standing,"
Murr told reporters after a meeting with French envoy Jean-Claude
Cousseran on Tuesday.
Murr also advised Christian parties against trading accusations
regarding the Pierre Gemayel’s assassination. Aoun hinted on Monday
that Gemayel’s assassins could be found inside the government.
"Despite everything," Murr added, "mediation efforts are still under
way and consensus should not be ruled out."
Meanwhile, well-informed sources told the Central News Agency (CNA)
that consensus was still likely to be reached in Metn. Mediation
efforts focused mainly on convincing the FPM to withdraw their
candidate and accept Gemayel as a consensus choice.
CNA also reported that Aoun had suggested postponing the Metn
by-election "until a consensus candidate, other than the three
candidates currently running, is agreed upon."
Gemayel, FPM candidate Camille Khoury and independent Joseph Mansour
Asmar are running for the Metn seat.
Also on Tuesday, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir reiterated
his call to various political groups "to reconcile and opt for dialogue
instead of battles."
However, with Aoun traveling to Germany Tuesday and the deadline for
candidates to withdraw from the by-elections at midnight Wednesday,
a consensus is far from being reached.
Commenting on Aoun’s mention of assassins present within the
government, Gemayel blasted the retired general Tuesday, saying Aoun’s
remarks "aim to escalate the problem even more. May God forgive him."
"It is known that Aoun is a supporter of wars of elimination, for he
never tolerates any competitors," Gemayel said following a meeting
with a delegation of bishops dispatched by the Maronite patriarch to
try to convince conflicting parties to reconcile.
Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani expressed his support for Future
Movement (FM) candidate Mohammad Amin Itani in the Beirut by-election
where a less-tense battle pits the FM against Ibrahim Halabi, the
candidate for the People’s Movement headed by former MP Najah Wakim.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress