

What was achieved yesterday ?

2. جعجع:- ندعو إلى إنشاء لواء من أنصار الجيش اللبناني يتألف من أبناء القرى الحدودية في البقاع الراغبين في حراسة بلداتهم

- لم يعد هناك أي مبرر للتأخر في إقرار قانون جديد للانتخابات النيابية كما إقرار قانون استعادة الجنسية ​

Why doesn't the FPM resign ?

A side note:

Lots of members here and actually a big portion of the Lebanese population didn't know or understand what was yesterday's movement for.What I will try to do here, is explain as simply as possible, the why and the results of this movement.Since the 1990 Taef agreement, the decision-making "solta siyesiye" in the country has been divided between 3 main offices: The President of the Republic (Christians), The Prime Minister (Sunni) and the Speaker of the Parliament (Shia).While the President of the Republic's power have greatly diminished, he still holds some leverage in the decision-making process.Through the years (after 1990) the President of the Republic office has been occupied by weak presidents (in terms of number of MPs supporting him in parliament). Without going into details here, lets fast forward that to 2013.In 2013, the Parliament term ended and, as we all know, the parliament renewed its own mandate twice already denying the Lebanese people the only right they had left to chose their representatives.In 2014, Michel Sleiman's term ended and also the unconstitutional and illegitimate self-mandated parliament could not elect a new president. An important role in the decision making has been lost here. For the ones who dont know, each major decision must be accepted by the 3 main constituencies in the country (the Christians represented by the President, the Sunnis represented by the PM and the Shias represented by the Parliament Speaker).as we like to call it, and Lebanese governments have been respecting this "3eref" since Independence and anytime someone tried not to abide by it, it caused major unrest and even wars.In order to keep the country "on its feet" and not paralyze the whole process, all political parties in the government agreed to some terms, so what lead to this FPM movement ?Here are some facts explaining these terms and some major events leading to this FPM movement:1., and in the absence of the President,(especially the Christians ones who are representing the Christians vote here instead of the President)2. Many times before,(e.g. Boutros Harb and others) objected to them for no compelling reason other than to deny FPM credit for good projects or decisions.3.Salam (prodded by FM) refused and insisted that he alone controls the agenda in every cabinet session thus adding to his own vast powers as PM those of the President and becoming practically a sole decision maker in the executive branch... almost a dictator.4.(and other parties like Kataeb)(again at the insistence and prodding of FM).5.(a position reserved for Sunnis).They both agreed and took their proposal to all other concerned parties and no one objected and they all (yes Junblat and Berri included) gave tacit approval.6.They used their usual deceiving ways arguing that there is still plenty of time (until September) to appoint an Army Chief but they needed to appoint the ISF Chief now as the acting Chief's term is about to expire. Needless to say, FPM ministers objected and insisted that all security and armed forces be appointed at the same time in one package.7.It was meant to set a precedent to having the Defense Minister extending the term of Kahwagi the Army Chief for the second time. By this they want to sneakily accomplish a double blow to FPM:- Removing General Roukoz from the picture who has to retire in October unless appointed as Army Chief- Keeping Kahwagi as a continued threat to Aoun in the presidential race.8. FPM, recognizing the childish conspiracy and silly FM's ways of deception (pun intended), struck back by declaring thatunless the security appointments are dealt with first.9. Since, FM and Salam changed their mind about how decisions inside the Cabinet should or can be taken.To set a precedent that they can proceed this way they chose one single small issue that can make FPM look bad (the subsidies to the truckers to export agricultural and other products) and passed it by a simple majority over FPM's objections. And now they can point at FPM (as exhibited here in the forum by some FMers and F14 supporters) as wanting to paralyze the country thinking that they can embarrass FPM into submission and capitulation. This is just a dry test run to later pass anything they want (including armed forces appointments) by a simple majority... basically running the country as a. dictatorship as they always did since their collaboration with the Syrian occupiers.10.to stop this slippery course and show them that if they want to try to force things down our throats another time like they got used to doing, especially that they think FPM's allies are now either consumed by other concerns or not willing to stand by it, FPM can also go down that slippery and dangerous road all by itself.I will just list some news/headlines here and leave the rest to time:1. Yesterday between the measured demos and the confrontation of the ministers they accomplished the first goal. Forcing Salam and FM to back down and agree not to try to pass decrees without unanimous consent.3. Sleiman Frangieh: "We are with you," the Marada leader said, addressing Aoun, "but you have to coordinate stances with us... We only disagree on the manner, not the stances."FPM is in a confrontation mode to accomplish specific things and not trying to score political points by being principled. Remaining in government provides FPM with additional tools in their confrontation as proven yesterday by the confrontation inside the cabinet.For the demos, FPM started the day before at night for two reasons. First not to prevent people to get to their work and do their business and deny its opponents the opportunity to turn people against FPM and its movement. Second, not to make FPMers leave their work to participate and create problems for them with their employers. This is why FPM said "measured moves" enough to accomplish the immediate goal. But FPM is ready to and can escalate much much more if need be.