Efforts to intensify as Berri warns against further delay in president vote
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has warned against a further delay in electing a president.
"A president must be elected within the next few weeks," Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Thursday.
Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, while its government has been running in a limited caretaker capacity.
"The longer it takes us to reach the needed consensus, the more complications and damages will increase," Berri said, stressing that obstructing the presidential vote is no longer acceptable amid the difficult situation in the region.
Political sources meanwhile told the daily that France is determined to intensify its efforts in 2024 to help Lebanon reach a presidential consensus and that Qatar will also resume its presidential initiative in Beirut.
"France and the five-nation group no longer see the presidential juncture as an internal necessity but as a regional necessity," a diplomatic source said, adding that French President Emmanuel Macron has called off his scheduled Christmas visit to Lebanon because of the presidential vacuum.
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