Fourteen current and former Lebanese members of parliament have signed a petition in which they admit to voting in favor of an extension to President Emile Lahoud’s term of office under duress, according to the Lebanese Daily Star.
The petition was submitted to Parliament Speaker Nabih Beri.
If the MPs had not voted in favor of a three-year extension to Lahoud’s term of office in 2004, he would not have received the two-thirds majority of the 128-seat parliament required for the extension.
The petition is part of a campaign initiated by an anti-Syrian coalition called the March 14 Forces to oust the pro-Syrian president using public pressure and legal channels. They are striving to end his mandate constitutionally by March 14, 2006.
Lahoud’s six-year term was extended by three years in September 2004, when Syria forced lawmakers to vote in favor of the move.
In the petition the MPs say they were subject to “pressure and threats by the Syrian and Lebanese security apparatus,” which forced them to vote in favor of the extension against their will.
The initiators of the petition are asking Beri to call for a session announcing the president’s mandate is null and void, and asking MPs to elect a new president.
Lahoud is refusing to step down.
Syria pulled out of Lebanon in April 2005, ending a 29-year presence in the country. The pullout followed domestic and international pressure after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.
Critics say Syria still has intelligence agents covertly stationed in Lebanon, and that Damascus still holds sway over Beirut’s policies and decision making.