Harb: Situation Hampers Would-be Solutions, Government to Assume Responsibilities or Resign

Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said on Monday that the government should either assume its responsibilities or step down, and highlighted the latest developments that “complicated the election of a president even further.”

“The government must shoulder its responsibilities otherwise it should resign,” said Harb after meeting PM Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

“If the government is unable to assume its duties because of the political positions of some parties that are disrupting the elections of a president then it should resign,” he added.

Harb warned that the latest local and regional developments have further complicated the situation in Lebanon and made the possibility of electing a president a complex mission.

“As the result of the latest developments inside Lebanon and abroad, things seem to be increasingly complex and some of the solutions that could have been achieved have become impossible at the moment,” said the Minister.

“This however, hinders any suggestion that could save Lebanon from the crisis especially at the presidential level,” he added.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014.

Conflicts among the March 8 and March 14 camps thwarted all efforts to elect a successor.

The latest regional disputes between Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted following the execution of a Shiite cleric over the weekend, have also reflected on Lebanon and triggered fiery reactions voiced by Hibzullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a speech on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia executed 47 people convicted of "terrorism", including a prominent Shiite cleric, al-Nimr.