Al-Rahi Urges 'Inter-Lebanese Initiative' to Elect President
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for an “inter-Lebanese initiative” that ends the country's lengthy presidential vacuum.
“The Lebanese people have grown tired of the political practices of the past two years and six months,” al-Rahi lamented during his Sunday Mass sermon, noting that those seeking a so-called package deal and certain agreements are actually seeking to “split shares and gains at the expense of the public interest.”
“After all this protracted vacuum, can't politicians make an inter-Lebanese initiative to focus on what gathers them and shun what separates them?” the patriarch asked.
And hoping “the ongoing attempts” will lead to the election of a president “during the October 31 session,” al-Rahi said any agreements must focus on “curbing public debt and improving the health, agriculture, industry, tourism and business sectors.”
Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun's chances to be elected president have largely surged in recent days and Education Minister Elias Bou Saab of the FPM announced Sunday that al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri has officially decided to endorse Aoun's presidential bid.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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