Lebanon's new government wins confidence vote

Lebanon's new government wins confidence vote

2011-07-08 00:35:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIRUT (BNO NEWS) -- The Lebanese government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday won a vote of confidence after three days of heated debate over its policy statement.

The Daily Star reported that 68 lawmakers voted in the Cabinet's favor, out of the 128-member assembly. Lawmakers from the opposition walked out of Parliament moments before the vote took place.

Mikati's government is the first to be dominated by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition. In mid-June, Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman announced that a new 30-member Cabinet was formed following the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Mikati also held the post of prime minister in 2005, shortly after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The U.N.-backed court probing the assassination of Hariri, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), has been a major point of contention between the previous parliamentary majority, the March 14 coalition, and the March 8 alliance which named Mikati to replace Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, earlier this year.

During the UN-supported investigation, Lebanon's rival factions argued that the probe was being misled with false testimonies. The special tribunal was set up as an independent agency after the UN found that the Lebanese probe on the murder was flawed.

Hezbollah claimed that the UN-backed tribunal's probe was marred by witnesses who gave false information and urged the Lebanese government to deal with these 'false witnesses' in the tribunal.

Three days of discussions preceded the vote of confidence, which was widely expected to pass with a narrow majority. Legislators belonging to the March 14 coalition had urged Mikati to either back the STL, which last week indicted four members of Hezbollah in the assassination of Hariri, or step down.

"The government confirms it will continue the path of the tribunal... and continue to cooperate with the U.N. Security Council Resolution which set up the tribunal to see justice served," Mikati said.

On June 30, the UN court issued warrants against Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hasan Aineysseh and Asad Sabra. Badreddine, the brother-in-law of Hezbollah's slain commander Imad Mughaniyeh, allegedly masterminded and supervised the plot to assassinate Hariri.

Lebanon, according to experts, now has 30 days to serve out the arrest warrants. If the suspects are not arrested within that period, the STL will then make public the indictment and summon the suspects to appear before the court.

Hariri was killed with 22 others on February 14, 2005, when a massive blast struck his motorcade in a seafront district of Beirut. The assassination sparked the so-called Cedar Revolution, a wave of mass protests that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year deployment.

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