Tue, Dec 31, 2024 | Jumada al-Aakhirah 30, 1446 | DXB ktweather icon0°C

US, France urge Lebanon parliament to act on president

Parliament will convene on Wednesday to try to elect a president, a position that has been vacant for eight months

Published: Tue 13 Jun 2023, 11:53 PM

  • By
  • AFP

Top Stories

Lebanese lawmakers attending a parliament session in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 18, 2023. — AP file

Lebanese lawmakers attending a parliament session in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 18, 2023. — AP file

The United States and France encouraged Lebanese lawmakers to work together to select a new president at a session Wednesday, one step in addressing the nation's crises.

Lebanon's parliament will convene on Wednesday to try to elect a president, a position that has been vacant for eight months, but lawmakers remain sharply divided on the candidate.

"We press the country's leadership to adopt a sense of urgency in meeting the critical needs of the Lebanese people, starting with the selection of a president," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Tuesday.

He said that Victoria Nuland, the State Department's number three official, spoke to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to welcome his efforts to ensure a quorum to elect a president.

In France, foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre called on lawmakers to "take this date seriously."

"We continue to call for a way out of the crisis, which has been our message for eight months, and not to waste another opportunity," she told reporters.

French President Emmanuel Macron has named former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as a special envoy on Lebanon in hopes of stepping up diplomacy.

Lebanon, long divided on sectarian lines, has been hit both by a political void and a major economic crisis.

By convention, Lebanon's presidency goes to a Maronite Christian, the premiership is reserved for a Sunni and the post of parliament speaker goes to a Shia.

The bloc of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant movement that holds major influence in Lebanon, is backing the pro-Syrian Sleiman Frangieh for president but does not hold enough votes.

Christians have rallied around Jihad Azour, a former finance minister who recently stepped down from his current job heading the Middle East and Central Asia department at the International Monetary Fund.



Next Story