Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian, the highest Sunni religious authority in Lebanon. (Credit: NNA/File photo)
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian, the highest Sunni religious authority in Lebanon, denounced on Friday the "shadow management" of the country's presidential elections, just weeks before the end of President Michel Aoun's mandate.
"It is true that some are locked in obstruction: yes, there is indeed a management in the shadows," said Sheikh Derian in a statement issued on the Muslim holiday of Mawled, the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
In comments reported by the National News Agency (NNA), the Grand Mufti denounced a delay by political leaders both in terms of the presidential election and the formation of a new government.
Aoun's term ends Oct. 31 and no successor has yet been elected to replace him. The caretaker cabinet of Najib Mikati has been in charge of political affairs since May.
"After Dar al-Fatwa's meeting, we are not satisfied with the course of events on this issue," said Derian, who gathered a majority of Sunni deputies on Sept. 24 at the community's headquarters and urged them to elect a "unifying" president.
He said he regretted the leaders "resigned themselves to the idea of an imposed vacancy, in order to end up having to choose a specific candidate" for the presidency.
"This way of doing things is not only a denial of democracy and the will of the Lebanese, it repeats a process that we have all understood is harmful," Derian added.
"What is happening with the presidency has also happened with the government, only worse. How can a country be governed without an effective executive branch and full powers?" asked Derian. "Rather than having one vacancy, we have two: in the presidency and in the government."
If no president is found to succeed Aoun, Lebanon will find itself, for the first time in its political history, with a total executive vacancy, with a resigned government and without a president.