Sources to LBCI: MPs refuse to resume session unless Defense Minister is allowed to speak

Parliamentary sources told LBCI that a large number of MPs have said they will not return to the session unless the defense minister attends.

The sources said the minister, for his part, will not attend unless he is allowed to deliver his scheduled remarks, leaving the matter in the hands of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Consultations are still underway but have so far failed to reach a solution.

The sources said Salam’s constitutional role as representative and spokesperson for the government applies when the matter under discussion is a draft law submitted by the government. However, they said the general amnesty law is a bill proposed by MPs, and the relevant minister therefore has the right to express his opinion on it in his capacity as the minister in charge of the matter.

The sources added that granting the right to speak during a plenary session falls under the authority of the speaker of Parliament, not the prime minister. They said this was specifically the point discussed in a meeting earlier in the day between Salam and Parliament’s deputy speaker.