This was what happened on the ground. Yet, there are some other political reasons that contributed to the incident. The disagreement within the government actually started weeks ago, as Aoun’s camp demanded the appointment of a new commander of the Lebanese army. From a legal point of view, current Commander-in-Chief Jean Kahwaji reached the age of retirement — 60 — on Sept. 30, 2013.
Back then, the government that was headed by Najib Mikati had resigned and was limited to managing day-to-day state affairs. Thus, it did not have full constitutional powers and was not authorized to appoint a new commander in chief. On July 30, 2013, the minister of defense took an exceptional decision to postpone the dismissal of the army commander.
Since the formation of the new government headed by Salam on Feb. 15, Aoun has been duly calling for appointing a new commander in chief, demanding that the issue be a top priority in the government sessions. Aoun’s ministers refused to discuss any other matter before the appointment of a new commander, which consequently led to the altercation July 9.
As per the Lebanese custom laws, the army commander in chief ought to be Maronite, which automatically makes the current head of the army a semi-permanent candidate for the presidential seat, which is also traditionally allocated to Maronites. Electing army commanders as presidents was not unconstitutional before the amendments on the Taif Agreement in 1990. Afterward, Article 49 of the Constitution expressly stipulated that the candidates for the presidency have to be retired for two years before being entitled to run in the elections. This article was modified in 1998 for one exceptional time, which allowed the election of Emile Lahoud as president at the time. Afterward, the two-year retirement stipulation was completely disregarded when Michel Suleiman was elected in 2008, under the pretext that the presidential seat was vacant.
In fact, three commanders in chief have served as presidents throughout the history of Lebanon. First, there was Fouad Chehab, who was elected Sept. 23, 1958, following the end of the civil war that took place during the summer of the same year. Emile Lahoud was the second army commander to be elected president Oct. 15, 1998. For his part, Michel Suleiman came to office May 25, 2008, after a presidential vacuum since Nov. 24, 2007, until his election.
Aoun’s opponents, the Future Movement, consider that he’s seeking to appoint a new army commander to ward off any potential presidential rival, while his supporters deny such claims.
Aoun’s supporters, however, believe that the Sunni camp is trying to control the Christian role in the government and in managing the state’s affairs. Sunnis rejected the election of a president who represents the majority of Christians in Lebanon. This is not to mention their rejection of the electoral law, which allows Christians full power to elect their MPs. Currently, Christians are being denied the right to full participation in the running of government affairs in the absence of a president.
