Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai on Monday questioned the "motives" behind Lebanon's presidential vacuum, especially as southern Lebanon "is threatened by war." His words came at the opening of the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church, a council usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application.
"We can only look at the Lebanese reality without a president for a year and a half, as if nothing had happened," Rai said.
"Since the end of the era of the predecessor president, what have been the dimensions of this desired vacuum, when southern Lebanon is threatened by war, and is in a state of cold war: Houses are being demolished, fires in orchards and cultivated lands, the dead are falling, people are displaced," he added.
"What are the hidden motives for not electing a president of the republic?" he asked.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since the end of Michel Aoun's six-year term as president in October 2022.
To date, Parliament has made 12 unsuccessful attempts to elect a new president – the most recent of them almost a year ago. A presidential candidate needs a two-thirds majority of votes in Lebanon's 128-member Parliament in order to be deemed elected on a first-round vote; however, in subsequent rounds of voting, a candidate only needs to garner a simple majority to be elected.
To date, the Lebanese Parliament's attempts to elect Aoun's successor have not made it to a second round of voting due to MPs walking out after the first round and the chamber losing quorum as a result. At each new electoral session, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri restarts with a first-round vote – a decision several legal experts consider a violation of the constitution, saying the electoral session should remain open so that when Parliament reconvenes, a candidate needs only to secure a simple majority to be elected.
On Sunday, Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil announced an initiative from Bkirki to end the deadlock in Lebanon's efforts to elect a new president.
Kataeb Party head Samy Gemayel also questioned the ongoing deadlock in Parliament, accusing Hezbollah of "blocking" the election of a new president.
"Why have we still not been able to elect a head of state? Why has Lebanon been dragged into war, and why haven't we been able to take a decision on the Syrian refugee issue," Gemayel questioned with his later remark pertaining to an issue that has been exacerbating domestic tensions, as well as between Lebanon and the UN and EU, since early spring.