The chairman of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, Ibrahim Kanaan, warned against “any attempt to harm the Maronite Patriarchate, as this undermines coexistence and its (the Patriarchate) known role in Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty” in allusion to the smear campaign waged by Hezbollah against the Maronite Patriarch, Archbishop Bechara Rai.
“We must avoid war with all our might because we have neither the capacity nor any interest in waging it,” asserted Kanaan in an interview on LBCI on Wednesday evening. Furthermore, he stressed that “it has become clear that the election of a President of the Republic is the key to all solutions in the absence of an effective government.”
Commenting on former Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Joumblatt’s remarks on the adoption of Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh as a presidential candidate, Kanaan said that “he can support whoever he likes, but if there is no agreement between the Lebanese on all issues, then the president will not be able to lead the country.” He, therefore, called for “the election of a head of state capable of reaching an agreement with all camps.”
