By Xinhua
Beirut : Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said on Monday that if the country’s feuding political factions were not willing to make compromise, the presidential elections will be very difficult, local daily Naharnet reported on its website.
“If each group wants to stick to its stance, without taking any action to meet the other, then elections seem to be very difficult,” Sfeir was quoted as saying.
Lebanese Parliament is due to convene on Wednesday to elect a new president to succeed incumbent President Emile Lahoud whose term expires on Nov. 24 but anti-Syrian March 14 majority coalition and pro-Syrian opposition are still at odds on a consensus nominee.
Talking about the forthcoming parliamentary session, Sfeir said he cannot “foretell” whether elections would be taken place or not, according to the report.
He added that it was up to the leaders to add or erase a name from the list of presidential candidates he had submitted on Friday.
Under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing pact, the presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian.
Things seem complicated at this point with some leaders insisting on electing a president after solving the country’s disputes, he said, adding that Lebanon faces “many disputes.”
“No one can solve all these problems in one day … but rather one problem at a time,” he underlined.
The parliamentary session scheduled on Wednesday is considered the last chance to defuse the political standoff which has lasted for almost a year as deadline is looming.
Many fear that failure in reaching a deal on the presidential candidate could result in a power vacuum in the country or a split with two rival governments standing against one another.