Lebanon has officially completed two years of vacuum in the presidency with no end in sight to the dispute that has crippled the country's top post since May 2014.
An Nahar daily on Wednesday marked the occasion by surveying the opinion of major Lebanese political leaders, with Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, and head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad abstaining from the interview.
Speaker Nabih Berri lamented the ongoing vacuum, saying that the “sooner we elect a president, the sooner we escape the threat of division or federalism that is lurking around us.”
Former president and former head of the Kataeb Party Amin Gemayel described the situation as a “moment of abandonment by some Lebanese leaders, who have not yet grasped the severity of the vacuum.”
“Neighboring countries are passing through a severe situation, which is being dragged to Lebanon through our own free will,” he remarked.
He hailed foreign efforts to resolve the deadlock, but noted that “ultimately this is a Lebanese issue that should be resolved through 128 lawmakers electing a president.”
“We cannot rely on foreign efforts as long as the Lebanese people have not yet realized the danger of what is happening in our country,” warned Gemayel.