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Lebanon majority backs army chief for president
AFP, December
2, 2007
BEIRUT, Dec 2,
2007 (AFP) - Lebanon's Western-backed governing majority
announced on Sunday that it would accept army chief General
Michel Sleiman as a compromise candidate for the vacant
presidency, clearing the way to an end to a year-old
stand-off with the opposition.
The coalition
"announces that it is going back on its initial opposition
to an amendment to the constitution and... is supporting the
candidacy of General Michel Sleiman for president," said a
statement read by former president Amin Gemayel, a leading
Christian coalition politician.
The change of
policy was intended to "put an end to the vacancy in the
presidency" since pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud
stepped down last month without a successor in place,
Gemayel said in the statement broadcast by Lebanese
televisions.
Sleiman's
candidacy requires a change to the constitution as Article
49 bars public servants from acceding to the presidency
within two years of stepping down.
Coalition
politicians had expressed opposition to any new change to
the constitution after their regional foe Syria pushed
through an amendment in 2004 paving the way for a three-year
extension to Lahoud's term of office. |
