Salam Calls for Patience, Vows to Activate Cabinet's Productivity

Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged the Lebanese to have patience to confront the presidential vacuum and the lingering political disputes, vowing that his cabinet will be more productive at the beginning of the New Year.

“The presidential vacuum is negatively affecting the country,” Salam stressed in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Sunday.

He called on the Lebanese to have patience as the country is passing through a “very difficult stage” associated by the failure of the political arch-foes to elect a new head of state.

“The situation cannot go on like this.”

Lebanon's presidential crisis has spilled over into parliament, which has failed to hold legislative sessions to elect a new head of state.

The Lebanese parliament is tasked by the constitution to select a president, a decision that has already been put off more than a dozen of times as the war in Syria continues to divide rival political blocs.

The term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May.

Salam vowed that he will seek at the beginning of the new year to reactivate the cabinet work in order to be productive.

The cabinet assumes the executive tasks of the president as stated by the constitution until a new head of state is elected.