Jumblat Considers Taef Accord Needs 'Improvements'
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat expressed willingness to amend the Taef accord, deeming it a must to safeguard the Christians in Lebanon.
Jumblat in remarks published in As Safir newspaper on Friday said that improving the Taef accord would also strengthen the jurisdictions of the country's top Christian post.
He pointed out that the new Taef agreement would turn the head of state into a bridge that gathers the Shiites and the Sunnis in the country.
The Druze leader criticized Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, saying: “his post and history are far more important than assaulting Jumblat.”
The PSP chief holds onto his presidential candidate Henry Helou, putting off any Christian criticism to his nominee.
Lebanon has been plunged into a leadership vacuum after Michel Suleiman's presidential term ended on Sunday with rival political blocs still divided over a new leader.
Over the past two months the parliament convened five times to try to elect a successor to Suleiman but failed during the last four sessions due to a lack of quorum.
Jumblat voiced hope that the rival parties wouldn't obstruct the work of the cabinet.
The presidential vacuum raised fears that it would affect Lebanon's power-sharing agreement under which the president should be a Maronite, the premier a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.
The cabinet assumes the executive tasks of the president as stated by the constitution until a new head of state is elected.
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