Lebanese President Michel Aoun left the presidential palace on Sunday amid the support and presence of his supporters from his Free Patriotic Movement party, awaiting his departure, signing a decree that the interim government would resign, exacerbating the complexity of the situation in the country. political scene.
Without a candidate capable of securing the necessary parliamentary majority, the political vacuum threatens to exacerbate the crisis in the country in light of the accelerating economic collapse three years ago and the impossibility of forming a government since May.
A court source told Reuters that “the government will continue to do business despite this.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared his opposition to Aoun’s decision, considering it unconstitutional.
In his letter to parliament, Aoun said his move came after Prime Minister Designate Najib Mikati expressed “an unwillingness to write for various reasons” and cut off his path to “convene cabinet meetings” in violation of the “concept of doing business in a narrow sense.”
Aoun described the decision in Lebanon as an appeal for revenge, which is a crime indicating that the judiciary is not fulfilling the demands of justice for the people, and said: “I am leaving the country while it is stolen.”
Aoun’s move is a precedent in Lebanon, where the president of the republic must issue a decree accepting the resignation of the government, on the same day he signs decrees appointing a prime minister and forming a new government. The three decrees are issued together.
However, constitutional experts downplay its impact and see it in the context of a “political conflict” between the two men, AFP reported.
The existing political rivalry between the two heads of government and the country’s president sparked a new constitutional dispute as Aoun and his political team questioned the constitutionality of the provisional government’s governance of the country and the charter of the move in light of the vacuum. , and the possibility of assuming his duties during this period in a country ruled by sectarian balances and quotas between them, where the president of the republic was aware of the proportion of Christian Maronites, and the presidency of the government of the proportion of Sunni Muslims, which allowed Aoun to put forward a charter for Mikati and his government to rule in a presidential vacuum.
Response from the government
After the move, Auna Mikati announced in a statement that “the government will continue to fulfill all its constitutional duties, including the conduct of business in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the regulations underlying its work, except when the House of Representatives is of the opposite opinion.”
And he considered that “a decree accepting the resignation of a government that has already resigned in accordance with the provisions of the constitution has no constitutional force.”
what does it mean?
On this occasion, the head of the human rights organization JUSTICIA, Paul Morcos, says that “it is traditionally and constitutionally recognized, having risen to the level of constitutional custom, that the President of the Republic each time the government resigns or is deemed to have resigned with certain rights, such as the beginning of the term of office of the Chamber representatives. As in our current situation, the president will appoint the prime minister on the basis of mandatory parliamentary consultations in accordance with the post-Taif constitution.
Morcos continued: “Therefore, after the government agrees, he signs 3 decrees, 2 of which are signed only by the president in accordance with article 54 of the constitution, that is, the decree appointing a new prime minister and the decree accepting the government. application for resignation or consideration of his resignation”.
Regarding what happened now, he added: “The President of the Republic, without reaching an agreement on a new government between him and the prime minister appointed, issued a decree that the government only resigned, without issuing two other decrees, to perpetuate that the fact that the current government resigned in connection with the beginning of the term of office of the New Parliament.
He continued: “The issuance of this decree alone without the other two decrees, although it will leave political confusion, but will not change the constitutional data, since the decree to accept the resignation of the government or to recognize it as retired, what is the current reality with the beginning of the mandate of the House of Representatives, when it is considered to be outgoing resigned in accordance with Article 69 of the Constitution, is a government constitutional data, and therefore this decree is not considered a building decree, but rather a declarative decree, the consequences of which are limited to declaring constitutional, given that the government resigned in the first place.
He explained that Aoun’s ability to sign the government’s resignation decree “would not in itself have constitutional implications, but rather would have a political effect on politicians opposed to the idea of transferring the powers of the President of the Republic after a presidential vacancy to an interim government in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution. which they interpret as a violation of the delegation of authority. Therefore, we expect this issue to leave room for the consolidation of this political point of view, and not for the creation of a new constitutional provision.”
Morcos pointed out that “at a minimum, there is a rule that regulates the absence of a vacuum in governance, which is a continuation of the work of the constitutional public service, which means that there is no break in governance. The only important thing is that the transitional power, which here is the government, must comply with the minimum necessary acts of government in order to transfer legitimacy to those who replace it, and nothing more.
Aoun spoke to reporters on the sidelines of his last meetings at Baabda Palace before leaving, during which he again threatened to sign the government’s resignation. It can be broken.”
constitutional fact
However, according to what political and legal experts believe, the preservation of the interim government is a fait accompli that is protected by the constitution, according to a previous report by the Al-Hurra website.
According to what Al-Hurra is confirmed by a lawyer who lectures at law schools, Haytham Ezzo, the constitution expressly states that in the event of a vacancy for the presidency of the republic, the powers of the president are vested in an agency in the Council of Ministers, “and this means that the existing cabinet becomes a textual agent, constitutionally, without changing the form of this government and its constitutional formation, whether it be an ordinary government or a government that is retiring.”
As for the second point, related to the consequences of the signing by the Lebanese president of a decree accepting the resignation of the government before his departure, according to Ezzo, “this does not change the constitutional order of the current government and does not affect its powers limited to doing business (..)”.
He continues by explaining that the decree accepting the resignation of the government is “a decree declaring its state originally established from a constitutional decree after the parliamentary elections, and is not called by a decree of the President of the Republic, since it is not structural, and it cannot change anything in the constitutional equation , neither in practical circulation on the ground, nor in his power to throw him out of constitutional and political life, for only the signing of a decree on the formation of a new government leads to this, in order to replace it and exercise its powers.
For his part, political commentator Johnny Munir said in a previous interview with the Al-Hurra website: “Actually, and on the ground, the existing government is the one that holds things and fills the vacuum, and also ensures the continuity of the state. before the election of a new Lebanese president, and the interim government can do this, especially since in these cases the institution of the Lebanese army is the real and actual holder of the position.
Thus, Munir expects that in the next phase things will proceed as they are now, “the interim government continues to govern the country constitutionally, and the political conflict and rhetorical escalation between conflicting political parties over constitutionalism will continue.”
presidential vacancy
Lebanon has already entered the presidential vacancy stage after the end of Aoun’s term, and there is no possibility and agreement to elect a new president through a divided parliament, and no chance of a new government being born, in light of the clash between Aoun’s team and prime minister-designate Najib Mikati.
Notably, Aoun’s presidential term began on October 31, 2016, which means it will end on October 31, 2022, given that the presidential term under the Lebanese constitution lasts 6 years, and in the same way that Aoun took over as president after a presidential vacuum . This lasted for two years and about 5 months, and he handed over his position to the void, again without a ceremony of transfer and without any indication of how long this void could last.
The Lebanese parliament was unable to elect a new president of the country in 4 sessions devoted to this at the last stage, the last of which took place on October 24, since the parliamentary blocs that emerged in the elections in May last year could not agree on a candidate who would be accepted by the required majority, but the nominated names remain. The majority is very far from being reached, and the weighted blocs resort to white paper voting or symbolic terms that show that there is no candidate yet, pending a settlement or concrete agreement.