US urges president who can 'guide Lebanon safely' amid current challenges
The U.S. State Department has called on Lebanon to elect a president who can “guide Lebanon safely through the current challenges.”
“Exactly one year after the end of former President (Michel) Aoun’s term, Lebanon remains without a president or an empowered government. Lebanon’s divided parliamentarians have failed to elect a successor to President Aoun, putting their personal ambitions ahead of the interests of their country,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“Even as rising tensions along Lebanon’s southern border threaten the country’s stability and the economic crisis deepens, the Lebanese people are deprived of leadership when they need it most,” Miller lamented.
Warning that Lebanon’s political paralysis does not benefit the Lebanese people, Miller called on the country’s parliamentarians to “do their duty and elect a president who will put the country and all its people first, commit to forming a government free of corruption, and implement critical economic reforms – chief among them those needed to secure an IMF program, the country’s only viable path out of the current economic crisis. ”
“The Lebanese people deserve a president who can unite the nation and guide Lebanon safely through the current challenges,” the spokesperson added.
Source: Naharnet
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