Patriarch Shells 2000 Law

Patriarch Shells 2000 Law, Threatens 'No Random Elections'The Maronite Church on Thursday escalated its rejection of the Syrian-authored law of 2000 as the framework of the May-June legislative elections just as the opposition convened in an emergency conference to head off a looming specter of a pan-Christian boycott of the polls."They want a law at random for the elections and we tell them loud and clear the elections won't be held at random," shouted Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir through a microphone from a balcony of his seat in Bkirki to crowds at the courtyard of the ancient patriarchate."The Taif Accord gave us 64 seats in parliament and we shall elect all 64 of them," said the patriarch a day after he complained that the 2000 law allows the Christians to elect only 15 of the 64, enabling Muslims to elect the other 49, marginalizing the Christian role in Lebanon's decision-making. Saad Rafik Hariri was converging with other opposition leaders on the Beirut Bristol Hotel for the emergency conference when the Patriarch fired the new barrage against the 2000 law. He is dead-set against delaying the elections in order to allow an extra space of time to write a new law that has to be endorsed by Parliament whose mandate expires May 31.Among the Bristol attendants were leaders of the Qornet Shahwan coalition of rightist Christian politicians functioning under the patriarch's wing and Gen. Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement.Gen. Aoun added to the combustion over the 2000 law that seems certain to be the base of the elections by a declaration that put the people of Lebanon on alert for measures to fight "this bill that marginalizes a segment of the citizenry."Aoun made the declaration after a hurriedly arranged meeting with Sfeir in Bkirki Wednesday evening, a few hours after the Maronite Church served its harsh warning of "grave consequences" if the elections are held under the 2000 law, An Nahar noted. Aoun's trip to Bkirki was the first since he returned from 14 years in exile in France on Saturday and the first time since he ventured out of his new mansion in Suburban Rabieh northeast of Beirut."Some read in Aoun's declaration a thinly veiled threat to call for street demonstrations…and others went to the extent of talking about a Christian boycott of the elections," An Nahar commented. Aoun and Jumblat seem to have resolved their clash over the role of ex-premier Hariri's assassination in forcing Syria to quit Lebanon. Jumblat dispatched his senior-most aide Marwan Hamadeh to meet Aoun at Rabieh just before the Bristol conference commenced at midmorning.