Berri urges new president before June 15

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that the election of a new president is the “beginning of beginnings,” warning that “the presidential election should be finalized before June 15 at the latest, seeing as no one would know where the country would head if the presidential vacuum continued.”

“The mother of all problems is the sectarianism that is deep-rooted in all the joints of the state,” Berri added, underlining that “there is a dire need to work for reaching a non-sectarian electoral law and implementing what has not been implemented of the Taif Accord, especially its reformist articles.”

As for the looming expiry of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh’s term, Berri said: “We do not accept that a central bank governor be chosen without the (new) president having a say in this matter, and this also applies to the army commander post.”

Moreover, the Speaker noted that “the regional and international atmosphere regarding the presidential juncture are encouraging and appropriate.”