Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi leaves following the opening ceremony of the Arab League summit in Algiers on Nov. 1, 2022. (Credit: Fethi Belaid/AFP)
BEIRUT — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday called for the election of a new Lebanese president “without delay, so that his election achieves a renaissance for Lebanon,” according to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office.
In a meeting with Sisi at the Arab League summit in Algeria, Mikati also asked the Egyptian president to provide Lebanon with whatever medicine and vaccines it may need to combat its ongoing cholera outbreak, to which “Sisi affirmed that he has given his orders to respond to this demand.”
Lebanon entered a double executive vacancy on Tuesday when President Michel Aoun's term ended, leaving behind a caretaker government and no presidential successor.
The first day of the presidential vacancy coincided with the Arab League summit, which is taking place for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mikati attended the summit with a delegation including, among others, caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Energy Minister Walid Fayad.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmad Aboul Gheit warned Tuesday that a prolonged presidential vacancy in Lebanon "will have negative consequences" for the country.
Aboul Gheit assured the "full support of the Arab League to the Lebanese state in order to overcome this delicate period" and insisted on "the need for the current government to adopt the requested reforms, and for Lebanese politicians to assume their responsibilities."