Presidential election: 'A year and 3 months of emptiness have already passed, for nothing,' Rai laments

Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai reiterated on Saturday his calls for the swift election of a new head of state in Lebanon. The patriarch's renewed calls came during a mass at the patriarchal headquarters in Bkirki, where he delivered his annual Christmas message.

Addressing the country's politicians, Rai accused them of committing "a crime against the presidency of the republic, the constitutional institutions and the Lebanese people."

"Why do you seek to harm the country by abstaining from voting for a president? You know very well that there is no state without a president," he said.

"They are talking about agreement on the person of the [future] president. This agreement must be reached during successive sessions [in Parliament, to elect a head of state]. A year and three months of emptiness have already passed, for nothing ... in the absence of the president, who protects the constitution and leads Parliament and the government," the prelate said.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since Michel Aoun's term expired in October 2022. A dozen parliamentary sessions have thus far been held to elect a president, but they have all ended in failure due to a lack of political consensus.

South Lebanon

Rai also addressed the security situation in south Lebanon.

"We pray for our families in south Lebanon who are suffering from a war that has been imposed on them and that no Lebanese wants," the head of the Maronite church said. "We stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza, subjected to a war of collective extermination. We call on the United Nations to put an end to this  war," he continued.

Hezbollah maintains a tense front with Israel in southern Lebanon, and has lost 123 of its fighters since Oct. 8, the day after the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. On Wednesday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that 64,053 people have been displaced from Lebanon's border villages due to the conflict.

In his address, the prelate also revealed that parishes and religious orders are planning to appeal to the State Shura Council to ask the authorities to settle sums owed by the ministries of education, social affairs and health to schools and hospitals run by the church.