Lebanon cannot afford extended presidential vacuum

(MENAFN) According to the National News Agency, Lebanon's House Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Monday that Lebanon can no longer tolerate the repercussions of keeping the president vacant for lengthy periods of time.

"Lebanon cannot bear longer periods of presidential vacancy, and the Lebanese cannot endure further deterioration," Berri stated amid his conference with a delegation from the Lebanese Press Syndicate.

"The accumulation of crises which drove 80 percent of the Lebanese people under the poverty line, and the necessity to have a dialogue with the International Monetary Fund should all lead to accelerating the election of a new president for the republic," Berri asserted.

Berri also promised to convene a weekly parliament session to pick a new president. Lebanon entered a presidential void on November 1 when former President Michel Aoun's term expired, and parliament failed to pick a replacement within the constitutional timeframe. For the time being, presidential functions are carried out by a caretaker administration led by Najib Mikati.

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