Kataeb Party Boycotts Legislative Session in Protest Against “Violation of the Constitution”

Lebanon Today

The political bureau of the Lebanese Kataeb Party held its usual meeting, chaired by the party leader, MP “Sami Gemayel,” during which the latest political and security developments were discussed.
Following the meeting, a statement was issued in which the party’s deputies announced their boycott of the legislative session scheduled for Tuesday, as an expression of their rejection of what they described as an “attempt to confiscate the will of the Lebanese.”

The party expressed its strong dissatisfaction with “the insistence of the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, on not including the draft law on voting by non-resident Lebanese on the agenda of the legislative session,” and considered that this insistence constitutes “an attack on the constitution and the will of 67 deputies who are demanding its inclusion on the General Assembly,” according to the statement.

The political bureau of the Kataeb Party also strongly rejected “Berri’s” statements in which he claimed that the aim of presenting the election law is to “isolate a sect,” and stressed that “this talk is dangerous and unacceptable in form and substance,” and stressed that “the right of hundreds of thousands of expatriate Lebanese to vote is an embodiment of the constitution and equality, not a targeting of any sect,” adding that “whoever rejects the logic of the state and equality is the one who adheres to illegal weapons.”

In a separate context, the party called for active participation in diplomatic negotiations in order to spare Lebanon isolation in a region heading towards stability and openness, stressing that “the peaceful path represents a national and sovereign responsibility led by the state to protect the supreme interest, restore stability, and open the door to reconstruction and economic recovery.”

Likewise, the party strongly condemned the murder of the young man “Elio Bou Hanna,” considering that this crime is “new evidence of the danger of the spread of illegal weapons and the absence of state control,” demanding “the completion of the plan to withdraw weapons from the camps, extend the state’s authority fully, and apply the law to everyone without exception.”