Lebanon’s Mufti calls for choosing president before it’s too late

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian warned on Tuesday of chaos should a president not be chosen soon, Arabi21 reported.

In a message issued on the occasion of the start of the holy month of Ramadan, Derian said: “Oh, Lebanese politicians, it is enough to waste time. We reached the last stage before the complete collapse. Unite your vision regarding the fate of the country.”

He added: “Choose a president and form a government, or chaos, which started to appear, will prevail and the citizens will pay the price.”

Since September, parliament has failed to choose a president 11 times, while a caretaker government has been running the country since May last year.

READ: Lebanese patriarch warns of ‘multiple dangers’ without a government

Regarding calls to divide Beirut into two parts, Derian said people must face “off this plan which aimed to tear up the country.”

Beirut, he added, “is the symbol of unity among Lebanese people.”

“Muslim and Christians will never accept partitioning the capital,” he said, stressing that they will stand against such a plan with much resilience.

He called for politicians to prioritise the interests of the country and the people, as well as to put an end to the increasing rate of unemployment, electricity and water crises, and “to end the state of loss we are living in.”