Riyadh Main Obstacle to Election of Lebanese President: Political Figure
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Lebanese political activist stressed that the main reason behind Beirut’s failure to elect its president is Saudi Arabia, and urged Riyadh to take rational stances.
Secretary General of the Lebanese Democratic Party Walid Barakat told the Tasnim News Agency that “Saudi Arabia is an obstacle to the election of president in Lebanon.”
He further referred to Saudi Arabia’s tension with Iran as one of the issues that has prevented Lebanon from electing its president.
If Riyadh behaves rationally in this regard, an agreement can be made on the election of Lebanon’s president, he stated.
“The problem is not with the Islamic Republic of Iran, but with stubborn Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia,” Barakat went on to say.
For a year and a half since President Michel Suleiman stepped down after his six-year-term ended, Lebanon has been without a head of state as lawmakers repeatedly failed to agree on a consensus president.
According to the country’s power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim.
