Lebanon Stresses at U.N. Need to Quickly Elect a President

by **Admin** Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:02 am

Lebanon's permanent representative to the U.N. Security Council Nawaf Salam on Tuesday stressed the need to elect a new Lebanese head of state without delay.

He told the Council during its monthly meetings on the Middle East that a head of state should have been elected during a parliamentary session scheduled for Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the session to April 22 for the 17th time since September when the house was supposed to elect a successor to head of state Emile Lahoud.

"We can't but stress on the necessity to hold these elections as soon as possible in accordance with the constitution and the Arab initiative for my country's stability and security," Salam said.

During the Security Council briefing which included more than 20 other speakers, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe said Lebanon continues to be in the grip of a deep political crisis.

"The longer the stalemate continues, the greater the chance for the situation to deteriorate further, both politically and in terms of the security situation," he said.