BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament postponed a vote on a new president again yesterday, as disagreement on candidates continued, two weeks after president Michel Sleiman left office.
“Due to a lack of quorum because of the presence of 68 representatives (of 128), parliament chief Nabih Berry set a date of June 18 for a new session to elect the new head of state,” Berri’s office said. To proceed to a vote, a quorum of two-thirds of parliament is required to attend the session, but continued disagreements have seen members decline to attend meetings to prevent a vote from taking place.
Yesterday was the fifth time that parliament has failed for lack of a quorum to hold a vote to replace Sleiman and the first since the president left office at the end of his mandate on May 25.
The parliament is divided between two main camps, the pro-Syrian regime bloc led by Hezbollah and backed by Damascus and Tehran and a second bloc led by the son of assassinated former prime minister Rafiq Hariri and backed by Saudi Arabia and Washington.
The two sides are divided over the war in Syria and the question of Hezbollah’s weapons, and have failed to agree on a candidate to fill the presidency.AFP
