Al-Rahi Says Not Only Christians Impeding Presidential Election
Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayad stressed on Friday that the Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi informed a French diplomat, who is following up the presidential deadlock, that the crisis is not only linked to the Christians.
Ghayad said that al-Rahi stressed during a recent meeting with Jean-François Girault, Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, that “the head of state is not for the Maronites and Christians alone.”
Lebanon has been without a president since May when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of his successor.
Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have thwarted the elections.
“The presidential deadlock is a national crisis,” Ghayad quoted al-Rahi as telling Girault in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper.
The patriarch pointed out that “in a democratic country (such as Lebanon) no one should be excluded.”
Ghayad voiced al-Rahi's distress over the ongoing vacuum at the Baabda Palace, noting that the patriarch is exerting diplomatic efforts in order to pave way for the election of a new president.
Al-Rahi and Girault met last week in the Italian capital Rome. They discussed means to end the presidential crisis, “the needed efforts that must be exerted in Lebanon and the role that must be played by the friendly countries, topped by the Holy See and France,” according to a statement issued by the Maronite Patriarchate's press office.
The statement said the meeting was also attended by Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Bishop Paul Gallagher and French Ambassador to the Holy See Bruno Joubert.
Al-Rahi returned to Beirut on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Girault returned to Beirut to explore means to end the protracting presidential vacuum.
The official, who was tasked by French President Francois Hollande, also held talks in Riyadh, Tehran, Washington and the Vatican over the presidential crisis in Lebanon.
He also met with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Saudi Arabia.
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