Al-Rahi Says New Cabinet Should Oversee Polls Through New Law

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on Sunday for the formation of a new government that resolves the country's economic and social problems and holds parliamentary elections on time.

During his sermon, al-Rahi called for “dialogue and national reconciliation” to end the “divisions” among the country's politicians.

He said the politicians should first start with drafting a new electoral law that best represents the Lebanese and allows the citizen to participate in the polls without the influence of vote-buying.

Such a law should respect coexistence and the division of shares between Muslims and Christians, al-Rahi said.

Dialogue on an electoral law should also be “accompanied by the formation of a new government that assumes its responsibilities … resolves the economic and social crisis and drives the country towards holding parliamentary elections at their constitutional time,” he added.

Al-Rahi also said it was time for the Palestinian people to have a free and independent state.

The patriarch celebrated mass for the first time since his return from Rome where he was officially appointed as Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.