Report: Vatican Officials Pushing for Election of President with Strongest Representation
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A delegation from the Vatican has been holding talks with Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and Maronite political leaders in an attempt to bring to the helm of Baabda Palace the strongest and most popular Christian politician, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The daily said that the delegation, which has been sent to Lebanon by Pope Francis, is moving back and forth between the papal embassy in Harissa, the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki and the residences of the Maronite political leaders.
The Vatican officials would then hold meetings with the rest of the parliamentary blocs, al-Joumhouria quoted a Vatican source as saying.
The delegation has the objective of holding the presidential elections on time out of fears that vacuum would harm Christians and the post of the head of state that is reserved to Maronites under the 1943 power-sharing agreement.
The representatives of the Vatican also seek to guarantee the election of the Maronite candidate with the strongest representation and the one who enjoys the most popularity among Maronites and Christians in general, the source said.
“If there was no hope to elect a president who had strong representation, then discussions would focus on the election of a centrist,” it said.
The delegation would convince the four Maronite political leaders with such a proposal, which is better than vacuum, the source added.
On Friday, al-Rahi chaired a meeting that brought together Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun, Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel, and the head of the Marada movement, MP Suleiman Franjieh.
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea did not attend the talks in Bkirki for security reasons but approved a statement issued by the conferees, saying all four of them are candidates.
They urged Speaker Nabih Berri to press ahead with a parliamentary session to elect a new president.
President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ends on May 25.
The Vatican source expected the first round of discussions of the delegation to end on April 10.
He told al-Joumhouria that Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's foreign minister, would then visit Beirut.
G.K.
M.T.
02 April 2014, 10:27
12
The Lebanese President represents all Lebanese and not the Christians! The Christians are represented by the Members of Parliaments. The Maronite President does not represent all Christian sects he represents all Lebanese both Christians and Muslims. Just the same as the Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament. It works the same way. At the end of the day each one of these leaders is in it only for himself and NEVER has it been for the people except in 1989/1990 when General Michel Aoun was President/Prime Minister.
02 April 2014, 10:47
03
prime minister comes from the party that had mojorit f sunni votes
speaker of parliament comes the party that had majority of shia votes
so just for equality between sects
the president should comes from the party with most Christian votes
02 April 2014, 10:52
02
as long as we have this year 1614 mentality, how do you expect that to happen?
02 April 2014, 12:34
11
Well FT :
If Sunnis elect their PM (indirectly)
And Shiias crown their parliament speaker.
Why wouldn't christians elect their president ? Why wouldn't the president be representative of christians ?
The system is rotten but if you want to be fair, you cannot let muslims decide who the president is. Not unless you start switching the seats and disrupt the entire politics of lebanon by banning sectarian political parties and sectarian politics.
And we prefer a president who is popular in his native village than you Lahoud who isn't even popular in his native village !
02 April 2014, 15:54
10
@FT : the middle age sectarian mentality is that of TAEF and that of our political parties. I'm against that. But in light of the situation, you need to be "egalitarian" meaning all sects should have equal power. A power largely imbalanced by the presence of a heavily armed sect in Lebanon by the way.
if you read my comment, you can undertand I'm for the abolishing of such a system but that would require to abolish all political parties in Lebanon.
And talking about Middle Age mentality, I take no lessons from someone who strongly believes women's role is to stay at home and take care of children !
02 April 2014, 12:50
01
FT, with all due respects, the President should be voted only by us Christians, simple. Just as our Shiite and Sunni siblings decide on whom represents them, so should we.
02 April 2014, 13:13
02
FD bro, again, nothing that you wrote I could dispel, I share those same positions as yours here, but my current position is being held as it is, yes, I do agree, stone age maybe, but as I said, in view of how the other two presidencies are voted, so must we. Until that old spirit dies out, so shall we change. Cheers bro, sorry, I used my last cent, lol.
02 April 2014, 13:29
11
FD : you're right ! It's not a way to run a country.
Abolish and disarm all political parties so we can establish a new way to run our country. In the meantime, we need to respect the equality of sects.
It's enough that christians no longer have any power in this country. It would be a heresy for sunnis or shiias to even decide who represents them. This sucks but unless you find new ways to divide our people based on political beliefs rather than religious belongings, then we are stuck.
I dream of a new political system where lebanese would fight for socialist, liberal or other values instead of Saudi / Iranian / Syrian / Sunni / Shiia / Christian whatever bullshit and irrelevant segmentations.
But it all starts with disarming and dismantling political parties and banning their leaders from the political scene.
it starts with a revolution ! And a revolution there will be ! It will be ugly and bloody but the Lebanese people will recover their country !
02 April 2014, 13:25
10
Geagea has a very violent past but believe he truly has the support of the overwhelming majority of Christians. People may dispute his popularity, many may not like him, but I think it's a fact LF is the majority. Gemayel, is making a come back. I like his more recent stances on Syria and think he can get it done better than the rest and will be less sectarian and more diplomatic. Geagea is more of a military guy, maybe he should stay in his current role. Gemayel is presidential. Can Geagea just shave his head in the back a bit and wear a tie for once? I can't have him be my president.
02 April 2014, 13:25
00
Not sure about that my good sir. You get to pick Berry or you sect comes to a consensus on him. I bet the other side would rather see a more centrist speaker. The majority of Christians should be able to pick their leader. The zgharta people were loyal to Lebanon only. Now they are isolated. Aoun made a good run, but is a flip flopper and lost clout when HA abused its power send became arrogant like the Maronites of yesterday.
