Baabda Palace Remains Vacant as Presidential Elections Adjourned
The parliament failed again Thursday to elect a successor to former President Michel Suleiman, leaving the country's top Christian post vacant since May.
Speaker Nabih Berri has set a new session for October 29.
Suleiman's six-year term ended on May 25. But the rival MPs have so far failed to elect a new head of state over their differences on candidates.
More than a dozen rounds of parliamentary sessions were not held due to lack of quorum caused by the boycott of several blocs.
The boycotting lawmakers claim that there should be an agreement on a compromise candidate before heading to the polls.
Following Berri's decision to adjourn the session, Telecommunications Minister MP Butros Harb summed up the political situation as follows: “A state without a president has to confront the biggest challenges.”
The state “has no president because a political team is paralyzing the electoral process,” he said in reference to the majority of the March 8 camp, whose MPs are boycotting the elections.
In a similar press conference at the parliament, Lebanese Forces MP Elie Kairouz urged Berri to come up with a constitutional deadline on the election of a president.
He urged the Change and Reform bloc of MP Michel Aoun to take a bold decision and find a successor to Suleiman.
The bloc's MPs and the majority of the March 8 camp have boycotted the polls to stop LF chief Samir Geagea, the March 14 alliance's candidate, from reaching Baabda Palace.
Geagea told reporters at his residence in Maarab on Thursday that the failure to elect a president was reflecting on the country's sovereignty, and political and economic situation.
“All the country is paralyzed for the past three months,” he said, adding Aoun's “Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah are taking advantage of the paralysis.”
G.K.
M.T.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://cdn.naharnet.com/stories/en/150433 |