Maronite Officials Discuss with al-Rahi 'National Pact Contradication'

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A delegation from the Maronite institutions visited on Thursday Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to brief him on the result of its talks with the country's top Maronite political leaders on the country's presidential crisis, stressing that the vacuum contradicted the National Pact.

Following its meeting with al-Rahi in Bkirki, the delegation issued a statement saying the failure to elect a president and the continued presence of the government contradicted the 1943 power-sharing agreement and abolished the Maronite president.

Parliament should immediately elect a new head of state without doing anything else, the statement said.

The representatives of the institutions last met with MP Suleiman Franjieh, who reportedly stressed on Wednesday that he would vote for a “strong” presidential candidate if there was an agreement on him.

The officials have previously held talks with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, who is the March 14 alliance's candidate, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Kataeb party chief Amin Gemayel.

An Nahar daily quoted sources as saying on Thursday that Franjieh stressed during the meeting, which took place in his residence in Bnashii, that Lebanon's next president should be “strong.”

He told the delegation, however, that he “did not mind to agree on a strong candidate and contribute to guaranteeing a quorum (in parliament) even if he did not want to vote for a certain candidate.”

Franjieh was among the majority of the March 8 alliance's lawmakers who boycotted several rounds of parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a president under the excuse of lack of consensus on a compromise candidate.

The resulting lack of quorum left a vacuum at Baabda Palace after the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's six-year term on May 25.

Al-Rahi has repeatedly warned that Lebanon's power sharing agreement would be affected if there was a vacuum in the country's top Christian post.

Under the National Pact of 1943, the president should be a Maronite, the speaker a Shiite and the prime minister a Sunni.

The head of the Maronite League, Samir Abilamma, said following the delegation's talks with Franjieh on Wednesday that the vacuum at Baabda should be resolved “because it threatens the pact, which is the backbone of the national entity.”

The statement that he read appealed for unity to “salvage the Republic.”

It also urged all Lebanese leaders and mainly Christians to “assume their responsibilities towards the Lebanese and history.”

Abilamma stressed that the efforts exerted by the Maronite institutions would not stop until “the election of a new president who works on leading the country” and “introducing the true patriotic feeling in all institutions.”

G.K.

H.K.

Comments 6
Default-user-icon dddd (Guest) 05 June 2014, 08:40

regardless of everything and choice.. sleiman frangieh didn't practically go to school and has no educational degree whatsoever and when u hear any interview of him u notice the illiteracy, do we want this for the first chair in Lebanon? if u don't have a degree u cant get a decent job but u can get the Lebanese presidency?! so 8mars choice is the psycho or the illiterate? we want none.

Missing peace 05 June 2014, 08:43

"strong"! that is the new word M8 found for their populist speeches...
but what is their definition? strong only according to their definition, meaning
strong syrian collaborator,
strong hezbi boot licker,
strong iranian lover,
strong american hater,
strong idiot easily manipulated by hezbi lies...

it all applies to their candidate.... custom made for Orangina!

Default-user-icon fun politics (Guest) 05 June 2014, 12:10

a fun thought if all agreed for quorum to elect a consensus candidate and then a secret deal with march 14 and jumblatt snuck in 65 votes for geagea

Thumb FlameCatcher 05 June 2014, 15:17

@FT : Backstabbing is when your lying ex-General promises al Rahi he would not boycott the elections and doesn't show up. He's a traitor just like Nasrallah and deserves to be stripped of his nationality and kicked out the country.

Thumb FlameCatcher 05 June 2014, 15:28

@FT No wonder ! Plato did not believe in democracy. He believed in dictatorships :) In fact, he was almost executed by the very dictators he supported. Same will happen to the likes of you if you go on supporting Bashar, Nasrallah and Aoun... they will turn on you and enslave you !

Thumb FlameCatcher 05 June 2014, 15:42

@FT

1- Aoun is not worth a grain of salt

2- Quorum would not get Geagea elected

3- Any man worth his salt would be a man of his word. Obviously, Aoun is not a man of his word and thus cannot be trusted