The legislative parliamentary session that the revolution stopped last week for not concording with the people’s demands will be held tomorrow, Tuesday 19th, 2019 where Lawmakers intend to vote on draft laws related to combating corruption, a general amnesty, pensions, and others.
This session was set to be held last Tuesday, November 12, but was postponed for a week with the excuse of “maintaining national security,” as stated by the Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri.
Fact is, the uprise of the people against it and the blocking of the roads to the parliament brought him to postpone it. Since then, many MPs have been taking to social media to tell the public that they will boycott this parliamentary session.
Last week MP Paula Yacoubian uploaded a video to her Instagram account’s IGTV announcing that she will boycott the upcoming session for the reason “that the agenda for the meeting is “not in-line” with the people’s demands.
MP Fouad Makhzoumi also declared last week and in a video posted on his Facebook account that “he will not attend the parliamentary session out of respect for the Lebanese citizens who have been protesting in the streets for the past three weeks.”
He also went on tweeting today, stressing that he will not attend the session tomorrow out of “respect towards the citizens rising up for over a month,” and because the parliament is not taking seriously the people’s demands calling to fight corruption and the reimbursement of the stolen funds.
Earlier today, Kataeb chief MP Sami Gemayel announced in a live video on his Facebook page and Twitter that he will be boycotting the House of Parliament’s session tomorrow.
“We have been informed that it will be a secret session void of the laws that are being demanded by the people,” he stated.
“The priority today is to designate a new premier,” Gemayel stressed, calling on President Michel Aoun to “stop the delay in calling for (binding parliamentary) consultations.”
He concluded, “In response to the demands of the youths present on the ground, we declare our boycott of tomorrow’s parliamentary session.”
From his side, MP Osama Saad, whose supporters have been actively protesting since October 17, also announced his boycott of the session in a tweet:
“Neither the uprising’s demands nor people’s priorities are on the agenda and no discussions on the means to overcome the dangerous, fateful crisis that the country is going through.”
Another political party’s politicians boycotting the parliamentary session of tomorrow are the MPs of the Democratic Gathering.
In response to many asking him via Twitter, Hadi Abu al-Hosn of the Progressive Socialist Party confirmed that they will not be attending.
“The priority remains for the parliamentary consultations [to name a new premier].” He said, adding that “The first step towards reform should be the adoption of a law on the judiciary’s independence.”
MP Michel Moawad also announced on his official Twitter that he is boycotting tomorrow’s legislative parliament session, tweeting: “I personally decided not to participate in the # legislative_ session.”
Later on, MP Rola Tabsh, a member of Future Movement took to twitter stating that she along with future MPs won’t participate in the legislative session but in the session devoted to the election of parliamentary committees.
In addition to the above-mentioned politicians, the Independent MPs have also declared their boycotting of the session.
From their side, the Lebanese people of the Revolution are planning a large human shield that will block all the roads and entrances to the parliament in order to impede the session to take place.
