Vestnik Kavkaza
After Lebanese President Michel Suleiman resigned on May 25, the country's lawmakers, representing 17 different religious groups, could not reach agreement on the next leader of Lebanon. Another round of voting is scheduled for August 12.
Oleg Peresypkin, the head of the Near and Middle East and Africa Centre of the Acute International Issues Institute of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy, stresses the inter-faith issue in Lebanon. "There are 17 religious groups in the Lebanese parliament. The speaker is a Shiite Muslim, his deputy is an Orthodox Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim, the deputy prime minister is an Orthodox Christian. The president is expected to be a Maronite. The president plays a crucial role in the country's politics. The president as well as the prime minister is elected by the parliament. The political structure of Lebanon is based on a multi-party system. This means that every political party has its own candidate. Very often they can hardly agree on one person," the expert says.
The situation is sad, but still it shows that Lebanon may live without a leader for several months, the expert believes. Russian-Lebanese relations are indeed ambiguous, he says. "There are several joint projects, but the implementation of them is being postponed over and over again. Lebanese ministers insist that they do not have enough power to make such a serious decision without the parliament's and the president's consent. Of course this situation is quite sad. I hope some day our Lebanese friends will realize that the country needs a president who would represent it in the international community. I think that the president's office exists so that someone is elected president and enjoys the corresponding rights," he says.
