The Democratic Gathering bloc held its meeting chaired by the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Taymour Jumblatt, with the presence of MPs: Akram Shehayyeb, Marwan Hamadeh, Wael Abu Faour, Raji Saad, Faisal Al-Sayegh, Bilal Abdullah, Hadi Abu Al-Hassan, the party's Secretary-General Dhafer Nasser, and MP Jumblatt's advisor Hossam Harb, during which various developments and current issues were discussed.
The bloc reiterated, in a statement, its firm position on the necessity of serious dialogue to elect a new president for the republic who does not pose a challenge to anyone, and to stop the waste of time and opportunities, "especially since there is no alternative to dialogue except prolonging the vacancy, while the country cannot bear more."
The bloc called on the government "to fulfill its duties in running the state’s facilities and the affairs of the people according to the accumulated necessities in various administrations and sectors, and to specifically address the educational file by securing the needs of the sector, supporting the budget of the Lebanese University, and providing teachers in public education and universities with at least their basic rights that ensure a decent living and their ability to perform their roles, noting that the responsibility for not disrupting the school year primarily lies with the government."
The Democratic Gathering emphasized not to burden citizens with any financial burdens in the budget, and to resort to fair tax models, such as taxes on wealth, progressive taxes, taxes on vast uninvested properties, and other taxes that provide additional income to the treasury without burdening the poor classes.
Finally, the bloc called, in the statement, for "a fundamental solution to the causes that led to and are leading to the security deterioration in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, and to activate the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue away from the rejected performance of the current committee head who is requested to be dismissed, and to reopen communication and understanding among all Lebanese components and Palestinian forces to prevent any dubious exploitation of any incident of any kind, and to address its repercussions according to the law and based on the procedures established by the coordination between the Lebanese army and the Palestinian factions."
