Lebanon heads for tenth attempt at presidential vote

 

Lebanon”s parliament is set to meet for a tenth attempt to vote for a president on Saturday, but hopes of a breakthrough seem bleak despite US pressure on Syria to stay out of Lebanese internal affairs.
 
It remained unclear on Friday whether the latest bid in three months to elect a new president would even take place amid efforts to convince pro- and anti-Syrian factions to proceed with a vote.

 

“Saturday”s session may be postponed… given that things have gone back to point zero, and contacts seem to have ceased between the majority and the opposition,” the independent Al-Balad newspaper said.

 

The session comes amid what the media has termed public muscle-flexing between the United States, which has declared its support for the Beirut government, and Syria which along with its ally Iran backs the opposition.

 

On Thursday, US President George W. Bush accused Damascus of seeking to destabilise Lebanon despite having withdrawn troops from its smaller neighbour in April 2005 after 29 years of military domination.

 

“It is very important that Lebanon”s democracy succeed. I worked with the French to get Syria out of Lebanon, and Syria needs to stay out of Lebanon. Syria needs to let the process in Lebanon work,” Bush said.

 

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused Washington of blocking what he called Syrian and French efforts to end the Lebanese deadlock.

 

“They want the majority to monopolise the political decision-making process, instead of, as we and the French believe, all the parties being treated equally,” he said.

 

And the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which spearheads the opposition in Lebanon, accused Bush of “using its tools” — the majority coalition — to thwart attempts to reach a compromise over the presidency.

 

“No, Bush, your orders cannot be implemented in Lebanon and your tutelage is rejected,” Hezbollah number two Naim Kassem said in a statement on Friday.

 

Lebanon has been without a president since Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term with no elected successor on November 23.

 

Both sides have agreed in principle to elect army chief Michel Sleiman as a compromise president, but they remain at odds on how to amend the constitution to allow a senior public servant to become president, on who would lead a new government and how many cabinet seats each camp would get.

 

Bush has said if both sides in Lebanon cannot agree on the presidency, the majority could proceed to a majority-plus one vote to elect a new president who would then be recognised by the international community.

 

Majority MPs Nayla Moawad and Elias Atallah told AFP on Friday that their camp was not seeking to impose a president, preferring to pursue efforts for a compromise accord with the opposition.

 

But Moawad warned that “after the recent remarks by Muallem and Syrian Deputy President Faruq Shara, it is clear that the Syrian regime has taken the decision to block the presidential vote.

 

“They want to create a crisis to prevent Lebanon from having a strong and independent state. They want to cause chaos to be able to use Lebanon as a negotiating card for their own interests,” she said.

 

In his annual Christmas message on Friday, influential Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the Maronite Catholic community from which Lebanon”s presidents are drawn, urged all parties to unite and end Lebanon”s political vacuum.

 

“We have to reject hatred… and stop seeking personal interests at the expense of national interests,” he said.

 

“The presidency has been vacant for more than half a month, parliament has been paralysed for about a year and our government is limping with some cabinet members pursuing a strike,” he said.

 

“Isn”t it time to realise that we have reached a lethal void?”

 

Lebanon has been rocked by a series of assassinations since 2005 which the majority has blamed on former powerbroker Syria — a charge Damascus has vociferously denied.