Sfeir voices frustration over ongoing political impasse
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir voiced resentment on Tuesday over the current presidential crisis plaguing the country.
“Do not ask me about the reason that we are facing such a situation, ask the country”s officials,” Sfeir said, addressing reporters in Bkirki.
Sfeir met on Tuesday with Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh and Democratic Gathering bloc MP Wael Bou Faour. The two were dispatched by Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt to discuss the latest developments in the internal arena.
“We have conveyed to the prelate the salutations of Walid Bek,” Hamadeh said after a 45-minute meeting with Sfeir. “Our visit is aimed at seeking the opinion of the patriarch regarding several critical and decisive national issues. Our opinions are always compatible with the prelate”s.”
Asked about the options available to be the parliamentary majority if the vacuum persists, Hamadeh said: “We will not declare the majority”s choices from Bkirki because this place has a certain sanctity.”
Hamadeh said the March 14 Forces would meet to decide on the next steps to be taken, without specifying when.
“Leaders of the March 14 Forces are expected to hold meetings before declaring their choices,” he said.
Commenting on the ongoing presidential vacuum, the minister said that “we want to put an end to that vacuum in an hour,” in reference to the Parliamentary session that was expected to be held on Tuesday.
“And we will try to end it in hours,” he added.
A parliamentary session to elect a successor to former President Emile Lahoud was postponed for the eighth time on Tuesday.
Tuesday”s session was postponed until December 17.
Government and opposition leaders have yet to agree on a mechanism to have the Constitution amended to allow the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman.
For his part, Bou Faour did not rule out the possibility of electing a president according o the half-plus-one scenario.
“We do not rule out any possibility, be it elections by a majority vote of half-plus-one or not,” Faour said.
The patriarch also met on Tuesday with former minister Jean Obeid for talks on the latest developments in the country. No comments were released after the meeting.
Article 49 of the Constitution bars grade-one civil servants, including Suleiman, from acceding to the presidency until two years after they have left their posts.