Today, Monday, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri warned that Lebanon cannot bear the current situation for more than weeks, calling for "consensus" to expedite the election of a new president.
Since the beginning of last September, parliamentarians have failed four times to elect a new president to succeed the outgoing president, Michel Aoun, and a presidential vacancy has begun since the beginning of November.
Berri said - during his meeting with the head of the Lebanese Journalists Syndicate and members of the syndicate's council - that "the first priority is to elect a new president for the country, and we call for consensus on this entitlement," according to a statement from Berri's office.
He continued, "God created us different and scattered in order for us to listen to each other and meet with each other in all circumstances."
And he added, "In the face of the accumulation of crises, the largest of which is the economic crisis, as 80% of the Lebanese people are below the poverty line, in addition to the electricity crisis on which we spent tens of billions, and the dialogue with the International Monetary Fund, all of this must lead to the speedy election of a president."
Berri warned that "Lebanon may be able to bear weeks, but it cannot bear more than that, and Lebanon and the Lebanese cannot bear further deterioration," noting that he would call for a session every week in an effort to elect a president.
He revealed that "the agenda of the dialogue that he was going to call for was only to agree on the presidential elections," noting that "all the controversial stations that Lebanon went through ended with dialogue and consensus, from the Taif Agreement (1989) to Doha (2008) to the dialogue tables. Inside, shall we preach?
He believed that "the security situation in Lebanon is fortified. The Lebanese have awareness of what prevents them from being drawn into the furnace of war and strife."
According to observers, the consensus on electing a new president for Lebanon awaits regional and international consensus, and may be linked to the maritime border demarcation agreement signed with Israel on October 27, with American mediation.
The term of office of the Lebanese President lasts 6 non-renewable years, and he may not be re-elected to the same post until 6 years after the end of his first term.