Will patriarch's plan lead to new Lebanese president?
Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai has proposed an initiative to allow a president to be elected with only an absolute majority of the vote.
The ninth session to elect a president for the Lebanese Republic failed on July 23 to convene for lack of a quorum. The date marked two months of presidential vacuum. Domestic and international efforts have led to a settlement that would bring Lebanon back on track.
Further complicating things, the political crisis opened the doors to a constitutional crisis and the political struggle turned into a dispute over the constitution and its interpretation.
Resorting to governmental institutions is no longer the way to solve disputes, but one more cause of conflict.
According to information obtained by Al-Monitor, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai, who was the first to object to the presidential vacuum and has never missed a chance to call on the members of parliament to fulfill their missions and elect a president, is ready to change the rules of the game. Rai would endorse the election of a president with only an absolute majority of the vote in a plan known as the Bkerke initiative.
