Presidential Politics, Lebanon-Style
Which countries are trying to influence Lebanon's presidential elections?
BEIRUT, Sept. 25, 2007 — -- The Lebanese parliament failed to elect a new president Tuesday after the legislature was unable to attain the required quorum due to an opposition boycott. This result was expected by many Lebanon watchers.
Both sides did indicate that they were ready to talk, however. Farid Makari, the deputy house speaker, read a statement to reporters by the anti-Syrian parliamentarians, better known as the March 14 forces, in which they expressed their wish "to salvage the election and save Lebanon from falling into a presidential vacuum" through "constructive dialogue" with the opposition.
Members of the pro-government majority gathered in the chamber while most opposition members stayed in the hallways or nearby offices. The announcement to postpone the session to Oct. 23 was made after a bell rang three times to call the lawmakers into session. Opposition member Ali Hassan Khalil told reporters gathered at parliament today that the postponement should be seen as "a political chance for consensus more than an obstruction."
Parliamentarians from the ruling majority, several of whom have taken refuge in a nearby luxury hotel, were escorted to the session under tight security in light of the latest killing last week of one of their number in a car bombing. Some members of the majority wore white and red scarves on their shoulders, a symbol of the 2005 protest campaign, the so-called Cedar Revolution that drove Syrian forces out of Lebanon in the wake of the assassination of the country's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Pictures of the slain premier and five other anti-Syrian MPs all assassinated in the past two years were placed on their empty seats along with a Lebanese flag.
Although parliament speaker Nabih Berri had summoned opposing factions to convene, it was clear that the session would not lead to an actual vote but would, however, allow for consultations among the rival parties. After an earlier meeting with the powerful Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, who heads the Maronite church, Lebanon's Catholic community, from which the country's heads of state are traditionally chosen, Berri spoke to reporters Monday.
