UN Security Council urges prompt presidential polls

The United Nations Security Council expressed concern Tuesday at repeated postponements of Lebanon”s presidential election and called for a vote to be held without delay.

 

A statement adopted unanimously by the 15-nation Security Council urged all Lebanese political parties to exercise restraint and show responsibility to avoid what it called “a further deterioration of the situation in Lebanon.”

 

The election was postponed for the eighth time Monday and is now scheduled for December 17, in a move aimed at giving rival leaders more time to reach a deal expected to make the army chief president.

 

Differences between the governing coalition and the opposition have led to repeated postponements since September 25. The feuding camps agreed last week on the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, for the post, which has been vacant since November 24 after the term of Emile Lahoud ended.

 

But deepening differences over how to amend an article in the Constitution that bans grade-one public servants from running for office have delayed Suleiman”s confirmation.

 

The Security Council said “the ongoing political impasse does not serve the interests of the Lebanese people” and called for the vote to be held “without any foreign interference or influence, and with full respect for democratic institutions.”

 

Diplomats said the statement had been toned down after Russia complained the original French draft was too favorable to the government of Lebanon.

 

The final version still said the council “commends the course adopted by the democratically elected government of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces in carrying out their respective responsibilities” until the election takes place.
 

At the same time it called for reconciliation and political dialogue to bring about “the unity of the Lebanese people.”

 

Also commenting on the political situation in Lebanon, the External Relations Council of the European Union and foreign ministers of EU member states expressed concern about the ongoing crisis in a statement issued after their meeting in Brussels on Monday.

 

The council expressed its concern over Lebanon”s failure to elect a new head of state and hoped that a “quick” solution could be reached.

 

“The council is strongly concerned by the current absence of a head of state in Lebanon. It regrets that it has not yet been possible to elect a new president, and that the parliamentary session has been postponed yet another time until December 17,” the statement said.

 

While the ruling coalition and the opposition have agreed to give the post to the army chief, they are bickering over how to amend the Constitution to allow for his election and over the shape of a new Cabinet.

 

Article 49 stipulates that an acting senior public servant can not be president unless 10 MPs petition Parliament for its amendment, which would then have to be approved by two-thirds of Parliament and endorsed by the Cabinet.

 

But the opposition considers Premier Fouad Siniora”s government illegitimate. It pulled its six ministers from the Cabinet in November 2006, demanding more representation.