the profitable wager of a Lebanese MP | EUROtoday
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CIt had been greater than two years since he had tasted the enjoyment of a scorching bathe. Or even that of a mattress to lie on. “I finally slept well without anyone rushing me when I woke up to put my things away,” smiles Melhem Khalaf, who used to spend the night time on the couch in an annex of the Assembly, with out electrical energy or heating, earlier than resuming, alone, his place within the hemicycle within the early morning. After 721 days and nights spent tenting within the Lebanese Parliament, the 63-year-old MP was lastly capable of return to his dwelling in Achrafieh, a Maronite Christian neighborhood in east Beirut, with the sensation of responsibility achieved.
This sudden end result, the parliamentarian owes it to the shock election, on January 9, to the presidency of the Republic of the commander in chief of the Lebanese military, General Joseph Aoun, after two years of emptiness on the head of energy. “This is very good news, a new page that is opening for our country,” responded Melhem Khalaf in an interview with Point. “The new president’s inauguration speech presents a vision for the country along the lines of restoring the rule of law. »
Obstruction of Hezbollah
If he refuses to reveal the nature of his vote, carried out by secret ballot, the deputy from Beirut, elected in 2022 on the list of Forces for Change, recalls that he has always advocated respect for the Constitution. In the event of a vacancy in the presidency, deputies are required to meet immediately in Parliament to elect a head of state, until the name of the new president is known. However, when Michel Aoun’s mandate expires on October 30, 2022, this rule is not respected and Parliament finds itself paralyzed.
ALSO READ Lebanon desperately seeks president On twelve occasions, when the elected officials gather, the members of the pro-Hezbollah bloc stand up as one man and leave the chamber in order to prevent the election in the second round of a president who does not suit them. Due to lack of quorum, the session is adjourned without a head of state being elected. “The problem in Lebanon is that political arrangements have always been more important than the Constitution,” regrets the rebellious MP. Since 1992, the normal confessional political class has been extra taken with energy sharing than within the Lebanese inhabitants, who discovered themselves uncared for. »
Melhem Khalaf “the idealist”
In the midst of an financial disaster, the absence of a president is all of the extra detrimental to Lebanon because it prevents the formation of a brand new authorities, important to hold out the profound political and financial reforms needed for the discharge of worldwide monetary help. Faced with the urgency of the state of affairs, Melhem Khalaf begins on January 19, 2023, with MP Najat Aoun [sans lien de parenté avec le nouveau président, NDLR]a sit-in in Parliament to demand the election of a head of state. “We have only assumed our responsibility before our Constitution, our conscience and before our voters,” underlines the elected official, from civil society, whose colleague will put an finish to his motion 243 days later for causes of well being.
ALSO READ How Hezbollah cannibalizes the state in Lebanon Unprecedented, the initiative doesn’t, nevertheless, entice any followers among the many different deputies, who see the rebellious at greatest as an idealist, at worst as an enlightened individual. “Melhem Khalaf is a man of great integrity, close to the people, with deep knowledge of the field, who implemented the principles to which he is attached by organizing this initiative which will go down in History,” confides a Lebanese diplomat beneath the duvet of anonymity. “The problem is that within Parliament he found himself in a nest of vipers who were stronger than him and had a different interpretation of the Constitution. »
Weakening of Hezbollah
In the absence of a strong state in Lebanon, the country remains under the control of confessional parties which govern their community. And, in this subtle game inherited from the civil war (1975-1990), Hezbollah, the only militia converted into a political party to have retained its weapons in the name of the fight against Israel, reigns supreme.
Determined to elect its candidate, Sleiman Frangié, a close friend of former President Bashar el-Assad aligned with his interests, the “Party of God” is procrastinating inside Parliament, with the assistance of its Shiite ally Amal, who is completely insensitive. to Melhem Khalaf’s solitaire quantity. This feeling of omnipotence, nevertheless, will show deadly to him.
ALSO READ Israel-Hezbollah: the opposite battle that’s igniting the Middle EastOn October 8, 2023, the MP realized from the Assembly that Hezbollah had taken, alone, the choice to open a restricted navy entrance towards the north of the Hebrew state, within the hope of diverting the Israeli battle effort. from Gaza. An initiative which ended up turning towards the Islamist motion.
A yr later, when the Gazan entrance had misplaced depth, the IDF launched a shock operation towards Hezbollah which decapitated its workers and decimated its navy capabilities. “The weakening of Hezbollah and the force it represents has undoubtedly led it to be more flexible in the negotiations on the Lebanese presidential election,” confides a senior Western diplomat on situation of anonymity.
“Politics of consuls”
Following the ceasefire concluded on November 27 between Israel and Lebanon, a brand new date – January 9, 2025 – was set by the President of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, to elect a president. On the eve of the vote, the American envoys Amos Hochstein, Saudi Yazid ben Farhane and French Jean-Yves Le Drian went to Beirut to place all their weight behind the deputies in favor of Joseph Aoun’s candidacy. The similar day, Sleiman Frangié will announce the withdrawal of his candidacy in favor of the commander-in-chief of the military.
ALSO READ Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Iran: Trump’s new Middle East advisor reveals his imaginative and prescient at “Point” “It is a policy of consuls carried out by great foreign powers who put pressure on the deputies so that they elect a president”, denounces immediately Melhem Khalaf, who stays involved in regards to the sovereignty of Lebanon.
“Twenty-four hours earlier than the vote, directions got to elected officers despite the fact that all of the struggling of the Lebanese individuals had not made them transfer. » The thirteenth try on the presidential election would be the proper one. In the second spherical of voting, organized final Thursday within the hemicycle, the pro-Hezbollah parliamentarians this time remained seated on their information, permitting the election of Joseph Aoun with 99 votes out of a complete of 128 seats.
All smiles, a suitcase in his hand and a shawl from the Land of Cedar round his neck, Melhem Khalaf has lastly taken depart of the nationwide illustration, after nearly two years of residing there. And the person stated, in a last burst of laughter: “721 days is nothing within the lifetime of a rustic! »
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/721-nuits-au-parlement-le-pari-gagnant-d-un-depute-libanais-15-01-2025-2580070_24.php