Mattar Rejects Linking Presidential Election with Conflict in Middle East

Maronite Bishop Boulos Mattar stressed on Monday that linking the presidential election with the conflict in the region is a great mistake, hailing the dialogue between the political arch-foes.

“If Lebanon was a leading country in making culture... then how could it link its fate to that of other countries in the Middle East?” Mattar wondered in his sermon on the occasion of St. Maroun Day.

He called on the Lebanese to encourage the establishment of democratic communities, describing the ongoing presidential vacuum as a “cultural mistake.”

“Lebanon will remain a Muslim-Christian country,” the bishop said during a mass held at St. Maroun church in Gemmayze in presence of senior state officials.

“If we demanded Lebanon to elect a made-in-Lebanon head of state, then we are compelled to consider it our own responsibility,” he continued.

Lebanon has been without a head state since May when the term of President Michel Suleiman ended without the election of his successor.

Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have thwarted the elections.

Mattar voiced fear over the wars raging in the region, considering they diminish the culture, calling for peace and praying for reconciliation among the rivals.

He also expressed gratitude to international organizations and brotherly countries for supporting Lebanon morally and financially.

Mattar praised the talks between the political arch-foes, calling on the rivals to resume the national dialogue.

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal recently kicked off dialogue at Ain el-Tineh under the sponsorship of Speaker Nabih Berri as representatives of the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement began preparing for a similar dialogue to take part between LF chief Samir Geagea and FPM leader Michel Aoun.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who attended the mass, reiterated in comments to reporters ahead of the sermon the importance of ending the presidential deadlock.

“We hope the election of a new head of state to end the vacuum, which would enable the country to progress,” Salam said.

The Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, Jean-François Girault, visited Lebanon last week in an attempt to reach a breakthrough over the presidential stalemate.

He recently 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.

The diplomat was tasked by French President Francois Hollande to ease the sharp differences among the Lebanese rivals over the presidential crisis.

H.K.

G.K.