Summary
The election of a president is the key to political stability in Lebanon, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Tuesday, in his latest call on rival factions to end the 12-month-old presidential vacuum that has paralyzed Parliament legislation and is threatening to cripple the government's work.
Similarly, amid a threatened boycott of legislative sessions by the three leading Christian parties – the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party – in the absence of a president, Berri is striving to convene Parliament to act on a raft of pending draft laws in line of what politicians have termed "necessary legislation".
"We affirm that harming national security is forbidden," Salam said.
For his part, Berri warned that the monthslong paralysis of Parliament legislation threatens Lebanon's security.
The parliamentary Future bloc rejected Hezbollah's accusations that the Future Movement was violating the Constitution and blocking the presidential election.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag stressed the importance of electing a president almost one year into the presidential vacancy.
...