Hariri calls for consultations to agree on a president and protect Lebanon from the surrounding storms Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri issued the following statement on the occasion of Independence Day: Leaders and opinion makers unanimously consider that November 22 this year is a sad day, marked by concern about the present and the future, contrary to most Independence days that passed since 1943. It is true that many tragedies and wars occurred on Independence days, preventing the Lebanese from joyfully celebrating their national day, carrying out the military parades in the capital and organizing the traditional reception at the Presidential Palace. But the feeling of bitterness this year, like at the beginning of the last presidential term, is doubled due to the absence of the head of the State, who represents its national and constitutional symbol, and expresses the spirit of the formula upon which the State of Independence was established. And the feeling of bitterness is even stronger, because of the heartache of the mothers, wives, fathers and children of the kidnapped soldiers, that resonates in the homes of all Lebanese. It is deplorable that Independence Day occurs while Lebanon is without a President, to whom the Constitution gives the exclusive honor of taking the oath of preserving the nation’s independence and the integrity of its territories. Independence is meaningless, in the absence of sovereignty, freedom, justice and alternation of power. What remains of Independence if the purpose of political life is to replace the authority of the mandate with a vacuum in the constitutional institutions? The insistence to spin in the vacancy circle and keep the presidency hostage of external changes is an insistence to keep Lebanon in the spiral of division and loss. It is also the biggest insult to those elite Lebanese men who achieved independence and took it as a base for the National Pact and the support to the formula of coexistence. Independence Day is an occasion to renew the call for a roadmap that protects Lebanon from the surrounding storms, and to initiate, without any delay, consultations to agree on electing a president who would make his priority the revival of the national dialogue, the deactivation of discord traps, and the military and security disengagement with the Syrian war. This roadmap represents the required foundation for stability and the supporting environment for the army and its role in controlling the border, fighting terrorism and setting the kidnapped soldiers free. It is also the passage to the independent State that was and will remain the focus of all Lebanese. Otherwise, we will proceed with the policy of rushing ahead, and protect ourselves with political obstinacy and proposing impossible solutions, to justify breaking the rules of national consensus, monopolizing fateful decisions, and pushing the country into the regional fires.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 09:12:40 +0000
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