BEIRUT: A former Free Patriotic Movement senior official blasted the party’s leader Michel Aoun Wednesday, accusing him of attacking the prerogatives of President Michel Sleiman through the distortion of constitutional texts.

Former deputy Prime Minister Issam Abu Jamra contested claims by Aoun that the president should be an “arbitrator” or he is not allowed to vote during Cabinet sessions.

“It is honestly a constitutional heresy and cheap demagoguery when MPs refer to words and statements which they claim were mentioned in the Constitution when they are not just to achieve political gains,” said Abu Jamra in a statement.

The former FPM official said that the word “arbitrator” was not mentioned in the Constitution when speaking about the president’s prerogatives.