Lebanon: Maronite church leader urges politicians not to delay government formation

The leader of the Maronite church in Lebanon, Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, on Sunday urged the country’s political elite to stop delaying parliamentary deliberations on forming a new government.

“Who has the luxury of time to postpone parliamentary consultations to form a government? Take your hands off the government and liberate it. You are responsible for the crime of plunging the country into total paralysis in addition to the implications of the corona pandemic,” Al-Rai asserted the day after thousands of Lebanese citizens demonstrated in Beirut to commemorate the first anniversary of the protest movement that erupted last October against corruption and mismanagement.

The two main Christian parties in Lebanon, namely the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Lebanese Forces, announced that they do not support the nomination of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni, to form the next government.

Parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister were scheduled to be held last Thursday. However, President Michel Aoun postponed them until next Thursday, to pave the way for more political consultations.

READ: Lebanese patriarch points at Shia leaders for cabinet delay