Al-Rahi Says Won't Nominate Anyone for Presidency, New President Must 'Heal Rifts'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday announced that he will not nominate a certain candidate for the presidency, calling for the election of a president who is able to “heal the rifts” among the Lebanese.

“I do not have names to nominate for the presidency and I will not nominate anyone ... We need a president who knows how to talk to the world and how to heal the rifts,” al-Rahi said in an interview on LBCI television.

“We're working with everyone to secure holding the presidential vote on time. MPs have a two-month deadline to elect a president and nothing prevents holding the first session to elect the president on Monday,” al-Rahi said.

He called for selecting the new president “in a conscious manner,” underlining that “he must have a character that can heal the domestic rifts and must enjoy Arab and international presence.”

“We call on the Arab and Western states to dissociate Lebanon from the fate of the war in Syria and our dignity obliges us not to ask the West to elect our president,” the patriarch added.

He called on Speaker Nabih Berri to call for a parliamentary session to elect the new president as soon as possible and not to wait for a presidential vacuum to happen.

Asked whether he belonged to the March 8 or the March 14 camp, al-Rahi said: “I have engaged in dialogue with everyone and the different viewpoints do not create animosities with anyone. I'm with all the Lebanese despite their differences.”

President Michel Suleiman's tenure ends in May 2014 but the constitutional period to elect a new head of state begins on March 25.