Beirut - The head of Lebanon's Maronite Christian community
warned Sunday that the political situation in the country is
'critical' following the expiry of Emile Lahoud's term as president
and the failure to agree on a successor.
Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir during Sunday prayers urged all Lebanese
leaders to put aside their differences in the interests of the
country.
Sources close to Sfeir meanwhile said that Lebanon's Christian
community are concerned about the country's highest political office
remaining vacant, especially as according to Lebanon's confessional
power-sharing system it should be occupied by a Maronite.
'Lebanon during this political vacuum is at a critical juncture in
its history,' one source said, adding that the situation would end in
'either stability or chaos.'
Such fears were echoed on Sunday by Christian worshippers across
Beirut.
'The Christians are being marginalized and I fear there will not
be a president for Lebanon,' said Christian Augette Sarkis. 'We are
living in a country with no head and we face a dark future.'
Since the expiry of Lahoud's term on Friday and with Lebanon's
rival political factions failing to agree on a consensus successor,
the president's powers passed to Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, a
Sunni Muslim.
Prior to leaving office Lahoud had declared the transferral of his
powers to the Lebanese army, but under the constitution the army
commander must take orders from the premier if the presidential
office remains vacant.
Lahoud and the opposition led by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah movement
have considered Seniora's Western-backed government illegitimate
since the resignation of all Shiite Muslim cabinet members last year.
Michel Aoun, a Christian opposition politician, warned against the
cabinet taking over the role of the presidency, and called on all
Lebanese Christian political and religious leaders to meet for talks
to resolve the matter.
Meanwhile, the army's presence was increased on the streets of the
capital Beirut and checkpoints set up to secure law and order.
The stalemate has prompted fears of a power vacuum or the
formation of two rival governments, as was the case at the end of the
1975-1990 civil war.
The ruling coalition, which has 68 deputies in the 127-member
parliament, vowed to proceed with a simple majority vote if no
agreement is reached on a successor to Lahoud during a parliamentary
session scheduled for November 30.
But Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah
movement, has said that any such move would 'be tantamount to a
coup.'
Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Kassem warned
on Sunday that a presidential election would not be held unless all
parties, the opposition and the anti-Syrian majority, agree on the
candidate.
Political observers in Beirut see the crisis in Lebanon as an
extension of the regional confrontation pitting the United States
against predominantly Shiite Iran and Lebanon's former powerbroker,
Syria.
Progress in the Middle East peace parley in Annapolis beginning
Tuesday will help break the deadlock, analysts say.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
Your Talkback on this Story