Lebanon to stay without a president for two months

ALBAWABA - Lebanon continues to be without a president ever since Michel Aoun departed on 30 October, 2022. Yet there seems to be no urge by Lebanese MPs to agree and vote on a new name. They have met five times in the Lebanese parliament but all ended in deadlock. 

But the urgings for Lebanese MPs to choose a president comes from the international pyramid, Pope Francis himself. He calls on lawmakers to put aside their differences and think of Lebanon.

Mr Aoun was president of Lebanon for a six-year tenure but he vacated the presidential seat with no agreement in sight on who would preside in the top seat. Lawmakers met and adjourned but there was the usual disagreements. Today, there is a layback approach that continues to be followed.

Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, is in no hurry to chose a president and is ok with the presidential vacuum for the time being. 

He says Lebanon needs a president that "would reassure the resistance" arguing at the same time “we should not rush to fill the void with any president,” according to the Lebanese website naharnet and which means wait and take your time.

However, his ally and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri thinks differently and warns the country can't bear to be without a president for months on end because of the economic crisis the country is facing and has been in a critical state since 2019.

His views harks on the fact that before Aoun became president in 2016, the country endured a void in the top seat for 30 months; there were there was 45 parliamentary sittings during those months but MPs failed to reach a consensus vote. 

"Consensus is an obligatory gateway for electing a president, and without this consensus the vacuum cycle will continue and the country will pay the price," Berri added, in an interview with al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon also urged MPs to agree on the choice of president and said there should be a national dialogue. In a statement it added that “without a president, there can be no protection for the constitution, no supervision over the regularity of the work of state institutions, no separation of powers and no exit from the political, economic and financial paralysis, seeing that without a president the state plunges into total paralysis.” 

Despite the gloom however, there are those who say that Lebanon may yet get a president before the end of the year as pointed by MP Marwan Hamadeh who says he has information there will be a consensus on naming the next president in two months. 

We wait....