Stalled elections a lesson for Lebanon
Frustrated with the deadlocked election process, perhaps the Lebanese will finally turn from the sectarian politics that caused the problem.
Three parliamentary sessions in Lebanon were expected to elect a president. By the third and last session, the presidency was still a prisoner of parliamentary indecision. If by May 25 no president is elected — a real possibility — then the Cabinet of Prime Minister Tammam Salam will assume the functions and mandate of the presidency.
As we observe this procrastination (or is it prevarication?), we are reminded that sectarian politics carries within it the seeds of political paralysis.
Yet the political establishment in Lebanon is instinctively averse to changing the sectarian system to make serious and required constitutional reforms feasible, respond to the demands of the young generations of Lebanon and bring about the open political society that has eluded Lebanon for many decades.
While it is presumed that the president will be a Maronite, the selection from among the Maronite leaders is complicated by the polarization between the March 14 coalition led by Saad Hariri and the March 8 coalition led by Gen. Michel Aoun.
