France Seeks to Press Election of President via Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is mulling a French draft resolution regarding the importance of electing a new head of state in Lebanon and end the presidential deadlock.

According to a report published on Monday in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, the Security Council is discussing ways to convince the political arch-foes to elect a new president to fortify state institutions and safeguard the country.

The draft also aims at dissociating Lebanon from the conflict in the neighboring country Syria and calls on political foes to abide by the Baabda Declaration.

However, the daily said that Russia hasn't yet agreed on the draft.

Lebanon has been plunged into a leadership vacuum after Suleiman's mandate ended on Sunday with rival political blocs still divided over a new leader.

Over the past two months the parliament convened five times to try to elect a successor to Suleiman but failed during the last four sessions due to a lack of quorum.

The political paralysis is mainly due to a deep rift between two rival camps over the conflict in Syria, the powerful neighbor that dominated Beirut for almost 30 years until 2005.

H.K.

M.T.