Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday blasted calls for a so-called “package deal” that precedes the election of a president, noting that any candidate who accepts it has no “dignity.”
“How can any presidential candidate who has dignity accept a prior package deal?” al-Rahi asked during Sunday's sermon.
He pointed out that such a deal would “strip the president of his constitutional jurisdiction,” noting that “abiding by the Constitution eliminates the need for any package deal.”
Speaker Nabih Berri has recently proposed a package deal involving agreements on the electoral law and a national unity government.
“If we don't agree on this package deal, especially on the electoral law, we would be crucifying any elected president,” the speaker said on Monday, ruling out the election of a president before such an agreement.
Recent media reports have said that Berri is willing to accept “half a package deal” involving “an agreement on the electoral law, the finance minister post, creating an oil ministry and retaking the energy ministry portfolio.”