March 14 Declares Refusal to Join New Govt: We Reject to Legitimize Coup
As expected, the March 14 forces on Sunday officially announced their refusal to take part in the country's new government.
The March 14 forces "reject to legitimize the coup … and reject to turn into observers who cannot prevent violations," the coalition said in a statement recited by ex-PM Fouad Saniora after an extraordinary meeting for its 60 MPs at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut.
Outgoing premier Saad Hariri, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel also took part in the meeting.
On January 12, Hizbullah and its allies toppled Saad Hariri's cabinet in a long-running feud over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Hizbullah-backed Najib Miqati was then appointed to form a new government, which Hariri's alliance has refused to join and has labeled "Hizbullah's government".
Hariri had refused to join Miqati's government without guarantees that his cabinet will see the tribunal through.
Hizbullah meanwhile is demanding Lebanon end all cooperation with the court, which it says is a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy.
While Hariri and his allies won Lebanon's last parliamentary election in 2009, shifting alliances today have positioned the Hizbullah-led camp as the majority after Druze leader Walid Jumblat moved closer to the Shiite party.
"The way the national unity cabinet was toppled and the atmospheres of intimidation … created by the March 8 camp during the process of parliamentary consultations and designation (of Miqati) have confirmed our doubts that the March 8 camp is pressing on with its coup," March 14 said in its statement.
The coalition accused the Hizbullah-led camp of "undermining all attempts to form a balanced government through crippling the mechanism of cabinet formation by impossible conditions."
The March 14 forces also accused the rival camp of "infringing on the powers of the president and the premier-designate, which threatens the role of constitutional authorities and the powers, image and efficiency of state institutions."
The alliance stressed that "it considers what happened during the designation process, and what is happening during the formation process, as a coup against the Constitution and the democratic system which is taking place under the influence of (Hizbullah's) arms."
The March 14 camp vowed to confront the alleged "coup" through "all means available in the framework of its commitment to the practice of democracy."
"Out of their insistence on confronting and thwarting the coup, and in light of the PM-designate's inability to provide clear answers, the gathered MPs have decided to announce their refusal to take part in the upcoming government and to launch a peaceful, democratic opposition movement in order to defend the republic and protect the Constitution," March 14's statement went on to say.
On Saturday, Lebanese daily An-Nahar reported that another meeting for the March 14 forces will be held in order to outline the components of the new opposition, which will be comprised of parties, movements, and individuals.
March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Saturday that the March 14 leadership will hold a meeting on March 6 at the Bristol Hotel to announce a political document and roadmap that the forces will adopt.
Meanwhile, a March 14 source told An-Nahar that the camp did not sense any new position in Miqati's recent statements in Tripoli, "but he repeated the same wooden statements on justice and the truth while the March 8 camp is preparing a ministerial statement devoid of any reference to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the arms possession outside the state."
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