Hezbollah appeals for a "consensus" to end the almost two-month vacuum in the Lebanese Presidency

MADRID, 26 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The head of the parliamentary group of the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah, Mohamad Raad, has appealed for a "consensus" to elect the country's new president, in the midst of a vacuum in office after the end of the mandate of Michel Aoun and the fact that the Government is in office after having resigned.

"The fastest way to elect a president is consensus. The urgent needs of the country require a president with different characteristics. It must be discussed," he said, before criticizing the "political farce" and "personal and selfish interests "that prevent unlocking the situation.

Thus, Raad has denounced that "hatred and racism" among the "responsibles and their policies" have "destroyed" Lebanon, as reported by the newspaper 'L'Orient le Jour'. Hezbollah has so far voted blank in the ten parliamentary sessions to try to appoint the president in the absence of agreement on a candidate.

To be elected, the president must obtain the support of two thirds of the parliamentarians -86 of the 128-- in the first round or an absolute majority in the event that more votes have to be held, as contemplated in article 49 of the Lebanese constitution. Aoun was elected president in 2016 after almost fifty parliamentary sessions that lasted for two and a half years.

Lebanon has been trapped for several years in a deep and prolonged political, economic and social crisis that has caused more than 70 percent of the population to live below the poverty line and a banking system that has been paralyzed since October 2019.