BEIRUT, 23 December 2007 — Lebanon remained in limbo yesterday after the 10th postponement of a vote to fill the vacant presidency, as the rift widens between the pro-Western ruling parliamentary majority and Syrian-backed opposition. Lawmakers had been set to meet yesterday to vote for a new head of state, but the session was put off the previous night until Dec. 29.
As UN Undersecretary-General Lynn Pascoe warned the Security Council on Friday that the situation in Lebanon was “dangerous and unsustainable,” many politicians and the media were not expecting any vote to take place before year-end.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a main leader of the opposition, told As-Safir newspaper that if no president is elected next Saturday, he would continue to “set weekly sessions in January until we elect a president.” The move comes amid what the media have termed public muscle-flexing between the United States, which has declared its support for the Beirut government, and Syria which along with its ally Iran backs the opposition.
“More than ever before, Lebanon taken hostage in Syrian-Western arm-wrestling,” said the front-page headline of the French-Language L’Orient Le Jour.
The US ambassador to the United Nations urged the council to bring pressure to bear on those blocking the presidential election in Lebanon. “We believe the council should be prepared to consider additional measures for those who are blocking the election of the president to change their stand,” Zalmay Khalilzad told closed-door consultations of the 15-member body.
A day before, US President George W. Bush accused Damascus of seeking to destabilize its smaller neighbor and demanded Damascus “stay out of Lebanon.”
In turn, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused Washington of blocking Syrian and French efforts to end the Lebanese deadlock. That was echoed yesterday by the Syrian ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustapha, who said the United States was opposed to the compromise struck on a consensus candidate.
The country has been without a president since Emile Lahoud’s term expired on Nov. 23 without the two sides agreeing on a successor.
The government and the opposition have agreed on army chief Gen. Michel Sleiman as the man for the job, but remain at odds over the election process and the shape of a new government. The opposition is demanding a “basket” of guarantees on the new government lineup ahead of any vote.
The majority has insisted that the makeup of the government was within the prerogatives of the president, traditionally drawn from the Maronite Christian community, which has expressed fears for its role in the Muslim-majority country.
Lebanese Forces party chief Samir Geagea, an influential Christian leader within the ruling coalition, accused the opposition of blocking the presidential election and warned that the majority was considering action.
