MP Ibrahim Kanaan reiterated after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai on Thursday the urgency of electing a president in the present context of uncertainty and growing fears of a conflict with Israel.
“Lebanon does not want to be engulfed in the whirlpool of war, and the current (sensitive) situation requires strong national unity,” Kanaan said, regarding the clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on Lebanon’s southern border.
According to him, the solution starts with the election of a president.
“I emphasize the need to attend Parliament to elect a president,” he said, warning against “the suppression of Lebanon’s foundations through usurping the state’s decision-making power and thus denying Lebanon any control over its fate.”
Kanaan, who heads the parliamentary finance and budget committee, also relayed to Rai the committee’s efforts to prevent the adoption by government decree of the 2024 budget in its present form.
In his opinion, such a move “would have disastrous consequences on the people,” as it would burden them with taxes “in an economically dire situation.”
He then called on parliamentary blocs to “assume their responsibilities” in that regard.
