Maronite Patriarch Bechara Raï speaking in Baabda, September 24, 2021. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai and Mufti of the Republic Abdel-Latif Derian, the country's highest Sunni authority, on Wednesday denounced the slowness of Lebanon's Parliament to elect a president.
"Lebanese politicians shun dialogue because they are banking on their personal interests," Rai said Wednesday, according to remarks reported by the state-run National News Agency.
Calling for an international conference for Lebanon, the Maronite patriarch asserted that "there will be no way out for Lebanon if we remain in this situation. Lebanon is sick and those in charge refuse to treat its pathology or even to know the reasons for it."
"Those in charge have no right to destroy the state and the people by undermining the political system and the constitution," Rai added.
Upon his return from Mecca, where he took part in hajj, Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian said he felt that "waiting for an agreement to elect a president adds to the disintegration and debasement at all levels of the state." He called for "dialogue within the constitutional framework" of Lebanon.
"We cannot allow the situation to stagnate. It is dialogue, contact and consultation that are useful, at a time when the institutions are in a critical state," he continued. "If we don't become aware of things, we will arrive at bankruptcy and disorder at all levels."
Lebanon has been without a president for eight months, following 12 failed electoral sessions in Parliament. This presidential vacuum is compounded by an executive vacancy, as the cabinet of outgoing Prime Minster Najib Mikati remains in caretaker status.