Maronite Church leader Bechara Rai during his Sunday homily, March 5, 2023. (Credit: NNA)
The head of the Maronite Church, Bechara al-Rai, welcomed Karim Souhaid, the new governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL), in his Sunday homily, stating, "Our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for his success in this difficult and delicate task."
Nearly two years after Riad Salameh’s term ended, the cabinet agreed on his successor on Thursday.
The candidate won the support of 17 ministers out of the 24 members of Nawaf Salam's government, according to figures confirmed by L'Orient Today.
Souhaid has the backing of President Joseph Aoun, who views him as the best candidate to lead an institution that has faced a series of corruption scandals and been largely discredited by revelations of mismanagement, especially during the outbreak of the financial crisis.
Rai also said, "When we look at Lebanon and consider how we have acted after each crisis, hardship, war and occupation, we see how our faith in national unity has been challenged."
"It seems that our conflicts compete with our desire to live together and weaken it, and that the mentality of personal gain prevails over the mentality of solidarity, as if Lebanon is a project of positions, not a project of the state," Rai continued.
"We hope that, after all the recent developments in the region and Lebanon, and amidst the positive interest of countries in Lebanon, with the presence of a president who preserves the constitution, protects internal unity, and enjoys both internal and external trust, the Lebanese people and political parties will embrace a positive philosophy. This philosophy should be characterized by a vibrant spirit, credible personalities and the culmination of Lebanon in a policy of positive neutrality, enabling it to play its role in the message of peace, dialogue and the protection of the rights of peoples, public freedoms, respect for human dignity and the ideal coexistence between Christians and Muslims," Rai said.
Lebanese Army Commander-in-Chief General Joseph Aoun was elected as the 14th president of the Republic of Lebanon on Jan. 9, receiving 99 out of a possible 128 votes in Parliament, securing the necessary two-thirds majority in the second round of voting.
After over two years and two months of political deadlock, during which 12 attempts to elect a president failed, Aoun, who had not officially declared his candidacy, became the official successor to Michel Aoun, his predecessor, who left office in October 2022 at the end of his six-year term.
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