Linking Cabinet Formation to Presidency Wrong: Sheikh Qassem
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement's second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, criticized politicians that are hindering Cabinet formation by linking it to the presidency or waiting for developments abroad to lead to solutions.
“If some believe that linking the delay in the formation of the government to crises abroad will lead to solutions, we say to him that (it) only leads to further disruption,” Sheikh Naim Qassem said, the Daily Star newspaper reported on September 2.
He also slammed politicians for linking their chances of becoming president to positions in a new Cabinet. He said Lebanon’s presidency has never been tied to the formation of a government.
“He who believes that his position in the government prepares him to be president of the Republic ... is deceived,” he said.
In August, President Michel Aoun said his son-in-law and Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil was the target of media campaigns and harsh rhetoric, mainly by ministers and lawmakers from the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party, because he is a front-runner in the presidential battle.
