BEIRUT, 26 August 2004 — Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a close ally of Syria, has made it clear he is willing to stand for another term as Damascus wishes, despite strong across-the-board opposition to changing the constitution to allow him to run.
Lahoud said late Tuesday: “If a parliamentary majority wishes to bestow this mission upon me again, then I am ready to accept.” Syria’s overwhelming political influence in Lebanon, where it has thousands of troops, means it can also count on a majority of members of Parliament.
But a growing number of Lebanese religious and political figures are opposed to Lahoud standing for re-election because, under the constitution as it stands, a president is not allowed to stand for a second successive term.
While Syria is keen to keep a man they see as an ally in office, the United States is known to oppose the move and Lahoud’s announcement drew a swift response from Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and other members of the Christian community, from whose ranks the head of state is always drawn.
“The constitution is not just an ordinary law which you can change as you think fit,” the newspaper An-Nahar quoted Sfeir as saying. “Each time it has been amended it has led to a serious crisis.”
In recent times, two constitutional amendments concerning the presidency have been sought by Syria and voted through Parliament. In 1995, the presidential term of Elias Hraoui was extended for three years and in 1998, Lahoud was able to stand for president after the rules were changed because he had not resigned as head of the armed forces within the allotted time frame to be eligible.
“Syria is interfering,” Sfeir said. “Lebanese politicians who were against the constitutional amendment changed their minds after going to Syria.”
Several leading politicians were summoned to Damascus for talks last week and after a meeting with President Bashar Assad, Lebanese Health Minister Soliman Frangie said he thought Lahoud’s chance of re-election now stood at 6 to 4 in favor. For once, Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim leaders are showing rare unity against Syria’s steamroller tactics.
The heads of the Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities, Rashid Kabbani and Abdul Amir Kabalan, respectively, issued a joint statement Monday stressing “the importance of respecting the constitution regarding the election of the president of the republic”.
But Syrian anger was blamed for a withdrawal of the statement and its republication in a modified form omitting the tendentious phrase. Former President Amin Gemayel also joined the debate and was quoted as saying that the amendment would effectively be “a peaceful coup d’etat” which should “be resisted by all democratic means”.
And ex-deputy Camille Ziade, one of an influential group of Christian opposition figures, told AFP that such an amendment “would threaten what remains of Lebanon’s parliamentary democracy”.
Of the few voices raised in support of Lahoud, a politician who declined to be identified, told AFP he could not see what the fuss was about as Lahoud was simply expressing a personal opinion. “Nothing has been decided, in Beirut or Damascus, but each side has the right to set out its stall and campaign democratically,” he said.
Two Maronite deputies considered close to Damascus, Mikhael Daher and Robert Ghanem, who have already put their hats in the ring for November’s presidential vote, say they see no reason to withdraw. “If Parliament allows Lahoud to stand again he will have to stand against other candidates,” Daher told the press.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Mohammad Raad, the last Lebanese to be held hostage by militants in Iraq, has been freed and is in the hands of the Lebanese Embassy in Baghdad, Foreign Minister Jean Obeid told AFP yesterday.
“I spoke to Mohammad Raad on the phone this morning,” Obeid said. “He is in good health and at the embassy in Baghdad in the company of the charge d’affaires Ali Hijazi.” Raad, 27, was abducted on Aug. 16 by a group calling itself the Islamic Movement of Holy Warriors in Iraq — Seif Al-Islam Brigades.
