Omar al-Rassi, “Akhbar al-Yawm” agency

Kataeb sources to "Akhbar al-Yawm": the Constitution first, then looking at other options

On the eve of the presidential vacuum, a number of opposition deputies (27 deputies) gathered at the Kataeb Central House to warn of the danger of the stage the country is going through after the Lebanese are tired of manipulating entitlements and institutions.

Two weeks after the vacuum, there are no indications that the completion of the entitlement is near, but rather there is an effort to focus on other files, and deal with the entitlement carelessly and thus adapt to the vacuum, as happened between 2014 and 2016, by activating the work of the Representative council under the title "Necessary legislation".

Hence, the 27 deputies, in addition to other deputies, reject the legislation under any names, based on the text of Article 75 of the Constitution: "The Chamber meeting to elect the President of the Republic shall be considered an electoral body and not a legislative assembly. It must proceed immediately, without discussion of any other act, to elect the Head of the State".

In this context, a meeting of a number of "change" and independent opposition deputies is scheduled to be held tomorrow, Tuesday, at a Beirut Hotel. The invitations were sent to about 40 deputies from the blocs of Kataeb, "change", "renewal", Sidon and "national moderation".

According to Kataeb sources, yesterday it was decided to hold the meeting, and not all the invitees have confirmed their attendance yet, the sources indicated that the Kataeb Party is not the inviting party, but if the meeting is held, it will participate.

The sources stressed via "Akhbar al-Yawm" agency that in the event that the meeting is held or not held, consultation between these forces is ongoing to take one appropriate position.

As for the relationship with the "Lebanese Forces" party, the sources said: the LF are with the same orientation as the Kataeb, and it is likely that it will form the link between the forces of change and the LF.

On another level, the source was asked: what about the conditions set by Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for presidential entitlement, and whether they will facilitate consensus, the sources confirmed that the Kataeb do not agree to those conditions, explaining: Nasrallah wants a president who protects the resistance, while the Kataeb wants to end the duality of weapons, sovereignty and the duality of institutions...

As for Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros Rahi's call to hold an international conference on Lebanon, the sources said: We do not oppose Bkerki, but we do not support the holding of any international or regional conference, but rather we call for the strict application of the Constitution, and after the application, the election of a new president of the Republic, the formation of the government and the relaunch of institutions.

On October 31, a meeting was held at the Central House of the Kataeb in which the following deputies participated: Sami Gemayel - Rami Fanj- Adib Abdel Masih - Ehab Matar - Walid al - Baarini- Salim Al-Sayegh - Ashraf Rifi - Mohammad Sleiman - Mark Daou- Najat Saliba - Neemat Frem- Abdel Aziz al-Samad - Sajih Atiyeh- Ahmed Al-Khair - Nabil Badr - Michel Daher - Fouad Makhzoumi - Imad al-Hout - Bilal al-Hashimi - Ghassan Skaff - Waddah Al-Sadeq- Nadim Gemayel - Jean Talouzian - Jamil Abboud - Ahmed Rustom - Elias Hankash - Michel Mouawad.