Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday warned that “a deliberate presidential vacuum” would be “a conspiracy against what the presidency position represents in the republic.”
It would also be “treason against Lebanon,” the patriarch added in his Sunday Mass sermon.
“The suggestion that there will be a presidential vacuum is rejected,” he stressed.
Al-Rahi noted that “speaking of presidential vacuum is constitutionally limited to the president’s resignation or death or a force majeure, according to articles 73 and 74 of the constitution.”
“Political forces should agree on a figure or two who enjoy the characteristics that have become well-known and repeated, and let parliament elect the new president within the constitutional timeframe that has started,” the patriarch urged.
Warning that “manipulation with the presidency is manipulation with the republic itself,” al-Rahi said: “Beware of opening this door.”
“The Maronite patriarchate, which is directly concerned with this juncture and every juncture on which Lebanon’s fate hinges, calls on everyone to put an end to adventures and bargains” in this regard, the patriarch added.