Saniora: Electing President prevents Renewed Civil War

Premier Fouad Saniora on Sunday said only electing a president would activate state institutions and the rule of law to prevent a return to civil strife that had shattered Lebanon for over 15 years.

Saniora, in a statement to the nation on the 33rd anniversary of the civil war that broke out on April 13 1975, told the Lebanese that even during the conflict “we managed to elect a president, and this is the present priority.”

 

“Some ask if there would be a return by the ordeal of confrontations among the Lebanese or between others on the Land of the Lebanese. Others promote dark thoughts and catastrophic expectations,” Saniora noted.

“like you, I ask myself daily: what to do?” he added.

 

The “only answer is no to despair …we should not accept to be pushed back by our own will,” Saniora said.

 

“We had managed during our ordeal to elect a president, more than once. The Lebanese civil order confronted the ferocious campaign that tried to demolish it and managed to rise again,” he added.

 

“Now we are called to work towards achieving one goal, which is reactivating our Lebanese constitutional institutions, the basic priority for which is electing a new president,” he concluded.