Rai decries "marginalization" of Maronites due to presidential vacancy

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai criticized on Sunday "the marginalization of the Maronites due to the refusal to elect a president of the Republic."

Rai emphasized "the need for reconciliation in our Lebanese society, which would end this war of private interests, even more severe than armed conflict." This reconciliation "begins with a restoration of the relationship with God and a change in behavior to achieve social reconciliation through the resolution of misunderstandings, leading to political reconciliation that would result in the reconstruction of a national unity and rule-of-law state, culminating in the election of a president of the Republic," he said.

Around 12 attempts by the Lebanese Parliament to elect a successor to Michel Aoun since the end of his term on Oct. 31, 2022, have failed. The most recent was in June 2023. Hezbollah and the Amal movement support the head of the Marada movement, Sleiman Frangieh, for the presidency and have repeatedly caused a lack of quorum to prevent the election of any other candidate. The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the opposition camp supported former minister Jihad Azour in the last session.