The head of the Maronite church, Bechara al-Rai. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai said Sunday that the only solution to end the presidential vacuum in Lebanon is "the holding of an international conference" devoted to the issue, under the auspices of the United Nations. During his Sunday homily in Bkirki, Rai also said he was "in principle" open to the idea of a "consensual president.' Rai's remarks come as the country is experiencing its first dual executive power vacuum, with no president and without a fully empowered cabinet.
The head of the Maronite church also denounced "the tricks" of MPs during the parliamentary sessions devoted to electing a new president. MPs failed for the fifth time on Thursday to elect a successor to Michel Aoun, whose term as president ended on Oct. 31.
Appeal to the United Nations
"Faced with the failure of the Parliament to elect a new president … we see no solution except to hold an international conference dedicated to Lebanon," Rai said. Such a conference should, according to the patriarch, aim at "renewing the presence of an independent Lebanon and its entity, its democratic system and sole control of the state [that governs] over its territory." He added that governance should be based on the constitution as well as international decisions relating to Lebanon.
"The United Nations, as well as any country that considers itself a friend of Lebanon, is concerned with the holding of such a conference," Rai added. The international community has repeatedly called on Lebanese leaders to elect a president quickly; however, to date there has been no concrete international initiative regarding the matter.
"Those who make history are the parliamentary groups and no other entity," argued Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Kabalan, who is close to Hezbollah, on Sunday. "An international congress dilutes the Lebanese sovereignty … that is why the solution … is only through Parliament, not through an international congress," he said in response to the patriarch's remarks.
'Tricks'
Rai also criticized the behavior of MPs during the electoral sessions, saying, "During each presidential election, they invent tricks to deviate the electoral process and its results, at the expense of the democratic process." He added that "the constitution is clear in its text concerning the date of the election, the quorum of the sessions, the first and second round," in what appeared to be a criticism of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has deemed that the rules of a first round vote are reset in each presidential election session. In the first round, a candidate needs a two-thirds majority to be deemed elected; however, in a second round vote, a candidate just needs a simple majority to be voted into office. To date, Parliament has not managed to keep the required quorum to progress to a second round of voting at any of its electoral sessions.
During the last electoral session, MPs Sami Gemayel and Melhem Khalaf invoked Articles 49 and 74 of the Lebanese Constitution, arguing that they do not specify that the quorum must be two-thirds at the end of the first round of voting. Berri, for his part, maintains the principle of respecting this quorum (86 deputies out of 128) at each session and the fact that the rules for a first round are applied each time a new session starts. He recently explained to L'Orient-Le Jour that this is his own interpretation of the constitution.
The head of the Maronite church also on Sunday commented on the idea of a "consensual president" — a concept supported by Hezbollah and its allies in the face of an opposition that advocates for a candidate that opposes the party. "It is a good idea in principle, provided that it is not a pretext to distort the game, and provided that we elect a free president who respects the constitution," the patriarch said. A consensus president "does not give in to the strong or weak, either inside or outside" Lebanon and must be elected "through successive daily votes and negotiations between all electoral groups," he said.
The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad said earlier on Sunday that his party "knows who it wants" to elect to succeed Michel Aoun as president of Lebanon and is working to achieve this goal.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that his party wants a president "who will not betray the resistance, will not plot against it and will not stab it in the back" — the term "resistance" referring to the party itself.
'A lack of seriousness'
The Greek Orthodox Bishop of Beirut Elias Audi said Sunday that "a parliamentary session held once a week indicates a lack of seriousness," commenting that it appears MPs "take our intelligence lightly, as well as their responsibilities."
"What prevents them from holding an open session where voting rounds follow one another until a president is elected?" he asked. "Isn't that what should be done?"
