BEIRUT (Washington Insider Magazine)– In an attempt to move politics forward despite the upheaval engulfing this Middle Eastern country, Lebanon’s parliament speaker called members to a session this week to pick the nation’s next president on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the speaker, Nabih Berri, parliament will resume on Thursday. A president, who must be a Maronite Christian, is elected by the 128-member parliament of Lebanon under the nation’s precarious sectarian system of power sharing.
The six-year tenure of the current president, retired general Michel Aoun, who is a supporter of the Hezbollah militant organization and was elected in October 2016 after a 2-year deadlock, expires on October 31.
According to ABC NEWS, the election for Aoun’s successor will take place as Lebanon experiences an economic collapse and the government struggles to carry out structural changes necessary for a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Three-quarters of the small Mediterranean nation is now living in poverty as a result of the crisis, which began in late 2019, and the Lebanese pound has shed 90% of its value relative to the US dollar.
However, it’s uncertain if lawmakers in a bitterly polarized parliament will be able to form a quorum for the meeting, which increases the likelihood of further political gridlock.
No favored or widely accepted candidate for the position of Aoun’s successor has surfaced in recent months.
Some significant groups have backed Sleiman Frangieh of the Marada Party, a Hezbollah supporter who considers Syrian President Bashar Assad a “friend and brother,” but a significant Christian bloc has not.
The two stated contenders, writer May Rihani and businessman Ziad Hayek, as well as Tracy Chamoun, the granddaughter of a previous Lebanese president campaigning against Hezbollah, have not yet received any official support.
The United States and the monarchies of the Gulf Arab states support Hezbollah’s adversaries, who want to use their power to prevent the future president of Lebanon from being a Hezbollah friend. Separately, 13 independent reformist parliamentarians are attempting to influence the election of a reforming president who will put reforms first and save Lebanon from its predicament.
