Rahi Shames Politicians over Failure to Fill Prolonged Presidential Vacuum

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said on Friday that the failure of politicians to elect a president is linked to “personal and sectarian interests,” as he shamed them over the prolonged vacuum.

“It is not enough to verbally demand the election of a president. The politicians must first come up with new initiatives. Shame on the political parties that over two years and five months since the term of the president ended, they fail to find a solution or suggest new initiatives because of their adamant stances,” said Rahi.

“The whole issue related to failure to elect a head of state is linked to many personal and sectarian interests,” he went on to say.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.