Word: suleimane
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Lebanon has been without a President since November 23, when Emile Lahoud stepped down. General Michel Suleiman, the commander of the Lebanese army, has been selected as a consensus candidate agreeable to the anti-Syrian March 14 parliamentary majority as well as the pro-Syrian opposition. But his election has become mired in squabbles over the process of amending the constitution to allow Suleiman to move directly into the presidential palace, forgoing the customary two-year cooling-off period for senior civil servants. The election has been rescheduled for December 17, although analysts suspect that the presidential vacuum could continue...
...Hajj's murder is certain to stir further calls by the March 14 bloc to directly elect Suleiman by a simple parliamentary majority to avoid a prolonged void. The opposition has warned that such a move would be countered by street demonstrations and possibly the establishment of a rival government...
...Syrians are very happy," says Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst. "I think this is what the Syrians always wanted - Suleiman." Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on December 7, when Suleiman is expected to be elected President...
With the announcement of Suleiman's candidacy immediately following Annapolis, it was widely assumed that Syria and the U.S. had brokered a deal to fill the Lebanese presidency as a way to help ease months of tension between their respective allies in Lebanon. However, senior March 14 politicians tell TIME that the proposal to nominate Suleiman had arisen more than a week before Annapolis, several days before Syria even announced it would attend the peace conference. The anti-Syrian block had determined it was better to choose a President acceptable to the opposition than risk a prolonged constitutional vacuum...
Another reason Suleiman got the nod was, perhaps, simply the lack of a better option: March 14 had determined that it had few chips left to play, given that the Bush Administration had apparently withdrawn support. "With America's realignment and engagement with Syria, obviously [the U.S.] cannot exert pressure on Syria anymore. We understood the message and acted appropriately," says Ghattas Khoury, a member of March...