Official Says Bkirki Rejects Parliamentary Polls amid Baabda Vacuum

The seat of the Maronite Patriarchate totally rejects holding the parliamentary elections amid a vacuum at Baabda Palace, Bkirki officials have said.

The officials, who were not identified, told al-Joumhouria daily published on Thursday that Bkirki “rejects in principal that citizens head to the polls at a time when MPs don't elect a president.”

“The elections would be unconstitutional if the seat of the presidency was vacant,” they said.

The officials reiterated that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi believes parliament's role after the vacuum at Baabda Palace lies in only electing a new president.

MPs should not legislate in the absence of a head of state, they said. “We won't accept new norms.”

President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended on May 25 despite repeated pledges by al-Rahi to elect a new head of state to avoid a flaw in the country's power-sharing agreement.

Under the National Pact of 1943, the president should be a Maronite, the speaker a Shiite and the premier a Sunni.

The presidential deadlock threatens to worsen the country's political crisis as the parliamentary elections loom.

Last year, the parliament extended its term until November 2014 after MPs failed to agree on a new electoral law.

Some parties have expressed support for holding the polls while others have said they are in favor of another extension.

But Bkirki rejects organizing the elections in accordance with the 1960 law which considers the qada an electoral district and is based on the winner-takes-all system.

Al-Rahi and Christian MPs in general believe that the law does not guarantee a proper representation for Christians.

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