Report: ISG Expected to Take 'Practical Measures' to Form Cabinet, Elect President

The international community is expected to exert stronger efforts to pressure Lebanese officials into forming a new government and preventing a vacuum in the presidency, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Sunday.

Al-Hayat said that President Michel Suleiman has been contacting the members of The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) to take “practical measures” for its push to avoid a vacuum in Lebanese institutions.

Suleiman believes that such a pressure would lead to the formation of the cabinet, which Premier-designate Tammam Salam has been unable to do since his appointment in April.

It would also facilitate the election of a new president and help Lebanon confront its economic woes.

The support group was inaugurated in New York in September on the sidelines of the 68th session of the General Assembly. It undertook to work together to mobilize support for the sovereignty and state institutions of Lebanon and to highlight and promote efforts to assist the country where it was most affected by the Syrian crisis, including in respect of strengthening the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces, assistance to refugees, and structural and financial support to the government.

But there are fears that Lebanon’s political crisis would worsen if the rival March 8 and 14 camps fail to elect a new president.

Suleiman's six-year term ends in May and the parliament should start meeting on March 25, when the 60-day Constitutional deadline for the election of a new president starts.