The Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT – The Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai voiced his opposition Sunday to the election of a "president of arrangements," as the Oct. 31 deadline approaches for Lebanese parliamentarians to elect a successor to President Michel Aoun.
During the first election session on Sept. 29, Leabnon's MPs failed to elect a new president, due to the lack of consensus between the different political parties. A second election session is scheduled for Thursday.
For his part, Mufti Ahmad Kabalan responded to Rai's comments, saying that such "arrangements" are part of Lebanon's identity.
In 2016, the election of Aoun was made possible, after a monthslong presidential vacuum, by arrangements between political groups. The Future Movement, led by Saad Hariri, and Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces at the time agreed to support the candidacy of the current president. But today, no consensus or compromise seems to be emerging so far regarding the election, while no one camp can claim to have a majority in Parliament.
"The Maronite Patriarchate does not support a candidate, contrary to what some say," Rai stressed in his Sunday homily in Bkirki, the seat of the patriarchate. "We support the idea of a president who succeeds, after his election, and who can really lay the foundations of a solution for Lebanon, with international anointing," he continued. In recent weeks, the head of the Maronite church has repeatedly drawn up his ideal portrait of the next president.
'No president with allegiance to foreign countries'
The prelate said that "it is time to find a president who imposes himself by his personality, his experience, his tenacity, his vision of rescue and his ability to execute it."
He also pleaded for an "agreement around a president who stands out at all levels, a president who expresses the will of the Lebanese society and not a president who pledges allegiance to the foreigner."
Bishop Audi and Ahmad Kabalan
Kabalan, who is close to Hezbollah, responded Sunday to Rai's exhortations by saying that "arrangements are part of the composition of Lebanon" in remarks reported by the state-run National News Agency. "The country, the national interest and coexistence are all informed by the fact that the population is half Christian and half Muslim," he added, warning against the "fragmentation, regionalism and decentralization that are tearing Lebanon apart."
For his part, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, Elias Audi, said in his homily, "We hope that the behavior of the MPs in the next election session will be more mature and serious, and that they will assume their responsibilities by electing a president on time rather than taking refuge in the blank vote or what looks like it."
In the first session, 63 blank votes were counted, a sign of a lack of consensus among a large part of the political class. After this vote, a lack of quorum (86 out of 128 deputies) was noted and the session had to be postponed.
"It is as if no one deserves to take on this responsibility, to lead the battle of reform and rescue, as if the situation allows us to waste time," Audi said.
If no president is elected by Oct. 31 and no new cabinet is formed, Lebanon will find itself for the first time in its political history in a total vacancy at the executive level: without a president and without a fully empowered government. Lebanon's cabinet has been functioning in a caretaker capacity since it assumed this status following parliamentary elections in May.