Plumbly, al-Rahi 'Agree' that Holding Presidential Polls on Time Serves Stability
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said on Tuesday that he agreed with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on the importance of holding the presidential polls on time as the means to preserve the country's stability.
“The patriarch and I agreed that stability in Lebanon would be best served by conducting the presidential elections on time on the basis of Lebanon’s constitutional procedures and democratic practice,” said Plumbly following talks with al-Rahi in Bkirki.
President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ends in May.
“I told the Patriarch that the international community remained committed to supporting Lebanon during this period of numerous political, economic and security challenges emanating from the Syrian crisis,” Plumbly said.
Such a commitment was underlined last week in the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon that was held in Paris, the diplomat added.
The group appealed Wednesday for nations to extend pledges of financial help for the country, which is coping with an influx of Syrian refugees, terror attacks and a struggling economy.
Participants at the ministerial meeting in Paris stressed the need "to not only speed up the promised aid but provide additional help."
Plumbly also told reporters at the seat of the Maronite church that his talks with al-Rahi focused on “the urgent need for a functioning, effective and productive government and the importance therefore of agreement without delay on the ministerial statement.”
A seven-member ministerial committee led by Prime Minister Tammam Salam has so far failed to agree on the policy statement over differences between the rival March 8 and 14 camps on the resistance clause.
The political blueprint should be adopted by March 17, when the constitutional one-month deadline for the adoption of a policy statement expires.
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