Lebanon's Presidential Vote Delayed Until December 11

For the seventh time, the vote to elect a new president for Lebanon has been postponed by the members of parliament. The parliament of Lebanon has delayed the vote since September. Voting is now set for December 11.

While the pro-West ruling bloc and the pro-Syrian opposition have come to the agreement on army chief General Michel Suleiman, the two of them are divided on how the new government will be made. It is said that both groups are disputing how to amend the constitution to allow a senior civil servant to be elected. As a result, Emile Lahoud stepped down from the presidency without someone to succeed him. When Lahoud’s term ended, his powers were passed to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who is pro-Western. During the dispute, General Suleiman has stayed neutral and called on the army to keep out of the politics. This has become the worst political crisis in Lebanon’s history since the long civil war ended in 1990. The parliament has been crippled with the opposition refusing to recognize the government. Article 49 of Lebanon’s current constitution bars senior civil servants from being president within two years of stepping down. Since 1998, the constitution was amended twice. First amendment allowed Lahoud to become president. Second one in 2004 allowed Lahoud to extend his presidential term by three years. The move caused Lebanon to divide into two camps: pro-Western and anti-Syrian. If the constitution is to be amended any further, it would have to be approved by two-thirds of the one-hundred and twenty-eight seat parliament. That is also required for a new president to be elected. Lebanon has a sectarian power-sharing system. That would mean that the president must be from the Maronite Christian minority. At the same time, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker must be a Shia.