European Parliament blames Hezbollah, allies for presidential void

The European Parliament has called on the European Council to apply targeted sanctions against all of those who are infringing the democratic and electoral process in the Lebanese institutions, those involved in serious financial misconduct and those obstructing corruption investigations or the domestic investigation into the Beirut port explosion.

"The current situation in Lebanon is extremely alarming and deeply concerning," the European Parliament said, adding that Lebanon’s present situation is caused by politicians across the ruling class and by "illegally armed parties obstructing the democratic and constitutional process."

It called on Lebanon’s political elite to take their share of the responsibility and accused Hezbollah, Amal and their allies of resorting to "unconstitutional tactics to prevent the conclusion of the parliamentary vote, such as walking out after the first round or breaking quorums to block the election of the opposition candidate."

"The Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon Nabih Berri refuses to hold open voting rounds to elect a President contrary to the provisions of the Lebanese Constitution; which resulted in 10 months of blocking presidential elections in a time of dire need for a president to implement the necessary reforms," the European Parliament went on to say, as it urged the Lebanese Parliament to swiftly elect a president.

It also called on the Lebanese government to swiftly implement "key governance, economic and financial reforms, including the credible regulation of key economic sectors such as the electricity sector" and urged the Lebanese authorities to respect the independence of the judiciary and "assist every effort that would allow those responsible for the decisions that led to the blast in the port of Beirut to be properly investigated and held to account."

The statement called for an independent international fact-finding mission to Lebanon to investigate the Beirut explosion within the framework of the U.N.