The pangs of electing a president in Lebanon

Lebanon’s parliament convened on Monday to elect a president, but the session was postponed until May due to lack of a quorum. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, and Monday’s session was the 38th set for electing one in the past two years.

No country in the world has been without a president for this long. Even in countries that experience coups, a president is immediately named.

Monday simply marked a new date in the ongoing vacuum, and in the scandal of the constitution’s inability to provide a solution to the crisis and oblige MPs to perform their duties.

Not attending parliament sessions or committee meetings would be a right if it did not obstruct state institutions and harm the national interest, which is treason.

Political manoeuvring

The March 8 coalition, which rotates in the Iranian-Syrian orbit, has pushed Lebanon to the edge of the abyss, obstructing quorums and preventing the election of a president. It has also made threats in an attempt to impose one. It obstructed the process of electing one even when March 14 parties accepted to nominate candidates from the March 8 coalition!

This has exposed the truth of the Iranian-Syrian axis and its Lebanese tools, particularly Hezbollah, and showed that they do not want to elect a president as they are comfortable turning Lebanon into a bargaining chip that serves their blackmail purposes.

Unfortunately, March 14 parties have become convinced of the idea - or perhaps submitted to it - that electing any president is better than the current vacuum. Accepting more concessions may jeopardize Lebanon’s identity.

This article was first published in an-Nahar on Apr. 18, 2016.
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Nayla Tueni is one of the few elected female politicians in Lebanon and of the two youngest. She became a member of parliament in 2009 and following the assassination of her father, Gebran, she is currently a member of the board and Deputy General Manager of Lebanon’s leading daily, Annahar. Prior to her political career, Nayla had trained, written in and managed various sections of Annahar, where she currently has a regular column. She can be followed on Twitter @NaylaTueni