Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai has accused Lebanese MPs of ‘high treason’ for failing to elect a new president and for trying to lead the country into a presidential vacuum .
“Through blind obedience to their masters , the MPs of the nation are refraining from electing a president, favoring instead the growing collapse of the constitutional and public institutions, injustice against the people and forcing the best of our skilled labor to experience the bitterness of emigration,” al-Rai said in his Sunday Mass sermon.
“Isn’t this high treason? Isn’t it rather a great crime against the Lebanese people and state?” al-Rai stressed.
“They are speaking of the need for dialogue in order to reach a consensual candidate, while some are clinging to their candidate and want to impose him on others and other parties are holding onto the veto right against the nomination of many eligible candidates,” the patriarch lamented, in a possible reference to Hezbollah and its ally Speaker Nabih Berri.
Berri has been calling for dialogue to select a consensual presidential candidate , but at the same time his ally the Iran backed Hezbollah is insisting on the election of its candidate Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh as the new president ,
Hezbollah and allies have also been blocking the election of any president during the 11 parliamentary sessions that were designated for presidential election
Franjieh is a staunch supporter of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad
The opposition considers Franjieh a rubber stamp , like former president Michel Aoun for Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah .
Aoun was proclaimed by many Lebanese leaders as Lebanon’s worst president ever
Rai concluded his statement by saying “The best and most appropriate candidate for this situation must be sought,” , calling for rising above “selfishness” and “partisan interests.”
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