A quarrel between the Kataeb party and Hezbollah took center stage on the second day of parliamentary sessions dedicated to discuss a policy statement ahead of granting the new government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri a vote of confidence.
The deputies exchanged accusations over corruption and malpractice.
The dispute started with Hezbollah MP Nawaf Moussawi when Kataeb leader MP Sami Gemayel asked whether Hezbollah ruled the current government.
Gemayel said he would not give a confidence vote to a cabinet in which ministers don’t trust each other.
“It is not right to have one political party drag the entire nation into trouble," he said.
When Gemayel recalled a statement made earlier by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who spoke about Hezbollah’s role in bringing Michel Aoun to the presidential seat, he was interrupted by Moussawi, who said “it honors the Lebanese that Aoun was elected through the rifle of the resistance while others reached the presidency on an Israeli tank,” in a hint to slain President-elect Bashir Gemayel.
The quarrel between the two parties intensified and the son of Bashir, MP Nadim Gemayel, hit back at Moussawi saying “You were throwing rice on the Israelis and most of you voted for President Bashir in this parliament.”
On Wednesday, most speeches dealt with fighting corruption.
MP Paula Yacoubian rejected to give her vote of confidence to the government, describing it as “a miniature of the parliamentary blocs that are supposed to be observing the cabinet's work.”
“How will the parliament be able to observe its own mini replica?" Yacoubian asked.
She accused Hezbollah of illegally hiring more than 5,500 employees in the lead-up to the May parliamentary elections. But Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah denied the accusations.
Discussions are expected to last until Saturday, when parliament should grant the new government its vote of confidence with the support of a majority of political blocs, excluding the Kataeb and some independent deputies.
