Region | Lebanon
Aoun under pressure to accept proposal
Crisis talks between rival Lebanese leaders stumbled toward Wednesday's deadline as the opposition sought more time.
- Gulf News Report
- Published: 00:15 May 21, 2008
- Qatari officials were exerting more pressure on opposition leader Michel Aoun to accept one of the two proposals aimed at a political crisis.
- Image Credit: EPA
Dubai: Crisis talks between rival Lebanese leaders stumbled toward Wednesday's deadline as the Hezbollah-led opposition sought more time to study Arab proposals to end a political feud that nearly drove the country to a new civil war.
An Arab mediating committee has agreed to give time until Thursday.
Qatari officials were exerting more pressure on opposition leader Michel Aoun to accept one of the two proposals aimed at a political crisis.
Veto power
According to Lebanon's OTV, owned by Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, the two proposals call for the election of General Michel Sulaiman as president, forming a 30-member cabinet in which the opposition holds 11 seats - a veto power which it has long demanded.
But with regard to the election law, one proposal calls for deferring a decision on it to the Lebanese parliament, which would address the issue following the presidential election and the other calls for dividing Beirut in a way that would partially favour Sa'ad Hariri group.
The current law gives Hariri virtual control over the 19 Beirut seats.
The second proposal would allow the opposition to compete on at least five of them.
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