 |
| 25/05/2008 Parliament will meet on Sunday to elect army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as Lebanon President. Lawmakers will gather at 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) to cast their votes at a long-awaited parliamentary session due to be attended by 200 invited guests including Arab and Western dignitaries.
Presidency seat has been vacant since Emile Lahoud's term ended in November, and 19 previous attempts to get lawmakers together to elect a successor failed. Last Wednesday, the feuding sides finally agreed to elect Suleiman and form a national unity government, after five days of talks brokered by the Arab League in the Qatari capital.
Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and a U.S. congressional delegation are due to attend the election. The foreign ministers of Syria, Iran and France are also among the 200 notables invited to witness the event. The U.S. delegation will be headed by Representative Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat of Lebanese origin.
In nearly 10 years at the helm of the army, Suleiman managed to stay out of the political storm. But as president he will have to tread a fine line to keep the peace with the same neutrality. "I cannot save the country on my own," he told local media this week. "This mission requires the efforts of all. Security is not achieved by force but joint political will." A career soldier, Suleiman joined the army in 1967. He was appointed military chief in December 1998. He is married and has three children. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment