Outgoing Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in Rome, on Dec. 2 2022. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin called on Lebanese leaders on Friday to "quickly agree on a president," expressing the Vatican's "deep concern" over the political stalemate, as Parliament has yet to elect a successor to Michel Aoun, whose term expired on Oct. 31.
During a meeting with Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib in Rome, Archbishop Parolin expressed his "deep concern about the inability of Lebanese MPs to elect a new president after several parliamentary sessions," according to the state-run National News Agency. He urged Lebanese officials to "quickly agree" to choose a president.
Lebanese MPs failed on Thursday, after an eighth election session, to elect a new president because of the lack of consensus on a candidate, as is customary in Lebanon. The Lebanese presidential election was on the agenda of discussions Thursday between French President Emmanuel Macron, on a state visit to the United States, and his American counterpart Joe Biden, who insisted on the need for Lebanon to elect a new head of state.
