Lebanon PM, Karami, Quits, Says Still Time for Elections

Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:55 PM ET

By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - 

Lebanon's prime minister stepped down on Wednesday, abandoning efforts to form a government to lead the country to general elections, but said there was still time to hold the poll as expected in May.

Prime Minister Omar Karami's resignation seemed to make timely elections more unlikely and deepened the political crisis triggered by the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Karami, who has now quit twice in six weeks, said he had hit a wall in trying to form a cabinet, whose main task would be to supervise the elections which the United States and United Nations say must go ahead on time.

"We have once again reached a dead end," Karami told reporters. "That is why I have invited you today to announce my resignation."

An official said President Emile Lahoud would hold consultations with lawmakers on Friday to designate a new prime minister. Pro-Syrian MPs are a majority in the assembly and the new prime minister is expected to be a Damascus ally.

Political sources have said the elections could be pushed back by weeks or months by the delay in forming a government. But Karami said there was still time for the poll to be held.

Lebanese opposition accuse pro-Syrian officials of trying to delay the vote, in which the opposition is expected to benefit from popular sympathy over Harari's killing.

Durzi opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, commenting on the resignation, warned of a political vacuum.

"If there aren't elections, it's the unknown," Jumblatt told Reuters during a visit to European Parliament in Strasbourg.

A prominent opposition Christian politician said before Karami's resignation the opposition might call protests against what he said were deliberate moves to push back the elections.

"The delaying tactic is going strong," MP Nasib Lahoud said. "If they go on, we might revert to popular pressure. We might go back to the street to force them to get on with it."

SYRIAN PULLOUT

Overnight, Syrian intelligence left an office in the Christian town of Zahle in the eastern Bekaa Valley and 30 Syrian tanks left the country on transporters, witnesses said.

Karami was reappointed days after his first resignation. He then failed to persuade the anti-Syrian opposition to join a cabinet with pro-Syrian loyalists.

Karami, who since then was trying to form a government from pro-Syrian figures, also said he would quit a grouping of pro-Damascus Lebanese politicians.

Parliament's four-year term ends on May 31. The constitution requires polls be called at least a month before voting day.

If elections are not held in May, parliament, currently dominated by pro-Syrian legislators, can extend its term by several months to avoid a political vacuum.

The new cabinet must draft the electoral law and supervise the poll, but agreeing on a draft bill and passing it through parliament is expected to take several weeks.

Karami's outgoing government had proposed an electoral law based on smaller constituencies, but the veteran Sunni politician now says the new cabinet would draft a law dividing Lebanon into at least five large electoral districts.

(Additional reporting by Aine Gallagher in Strasbourg)