The 33rd parliamentary session set to elect a new president and scheduled to be held today (Wednesday December 16) was deferred until January 7, 2016, due to lack of quorum.
Following the session, Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat told LBCI that “the Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea will remain the candidate of March 14 camp until an agreement is reached over a consensual figure.”
“We attended today’s session out of respect for ourselves and the Lebanese constitution,” Fatfat added.
He pointed out that the presidential initiative of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is serious as he stood firm on his support for MP Sleiman Frangieh's nomination for the presidency.
For his part, Head of the Future bloc MP Fouad Saniora emphasized that the ongoing presidential vacuum is having bad repercussions on Lebanon and its people as well as on the security, economic and social situations.
Lebanon officially entered presidential vacuum on May 25, 2014 after the six-year term of former President Michel Sleiman expired.
This comes after lawmakers failed to choose a successor to the head of state.
The impasse highlights the stark political divisions in the country.
Lebanon's presidency, allocated to the Maronite Christian community under Lebanon's sectarian division of power, is one of the three main political offices alongside the Prime Minister - a Sunni Muslim - and the House Speaker - a Shiite.