Report: Al-Rahi Proposed Vatican Meet for Top Christian Leaders over Presidency
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has suggested to bring together Lebanon's top Christian political leaders in Rome but his proposal was rejected, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.
Al-Rahi wanted to put the officials under “moral pressure to convince them to agree on a candidate for the presidency and agree on holding the elections,” the daily said.
But his proposal to hold a meeting at the Vatican was met with large-scale rejection from politicians and candidates for several reasons, it added.
The Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa said Sunday that Bkirki will seek during a meeting for top Christian figures to persuade them to assume their responsibilities and agree on the election of the “best candidate.”
Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 25. President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended amid parliament's failure to find a successor over differences on a compromise candidate.
The main rivalry lies between Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who hasn't yet officially announced his candidacy.
Al-Rahi has repeatedly warned that the vacuum at Baabda Palace would have severe repercussions on the country's top Christian post.
Under the country's power-sharing agreement of 1943, the president should be a Maronite Christian, the speaker a Shiite and the prime minister a Sunni.
But An Nahar quoted ministers as saying that the presidential elections were no longer a priority after politicians became concerned with the extension of parliament's term, which ends in November.
The legislature extended its tenure last year after the rival MPs failed to agree on a new electoral draft-law.
Some parliamentary blocs have said they are in favor of an extension while others have refused to back it.
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