Council of Muftis calls for reactivation of parliament and presidential elections

by **Admin** Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:04 pm

After holding its periodic meeting, the Council of Muftis in Lebanon, under the chairmanship of Grand Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Kabbani, issued a statement warning against the risks of perpetuating the presidential vacuum, which has gripped Lebanon since Emile Lahoud stepped down in November.

“In view of the council’s commitment to general national causes and concern for citizens and the fate of the nation,” the statement read, the council called for the election of Army Commander General Michel Sleiman as a consensual candidate as the first step in an initiative which would reactivate parliament. The Mufti Council also requested the formation of a national-unity government which would in turn agree on a new parliamentary electoral law which “achieved justice and reflected the honest will of the Lebanese people.”

The statement called for an end to the opposition sit-in in the Beirut Central District and led to “the paralysis of economic life in the heart of the capital Beirut.”

The council discussed the Arab Summit and Lebanon’s decision to absent itself from the meetings for the first time in the history of Arab summits as a political statement rejecting the presidential vacuum and confirming the Taif Accord as a basis of the nation.

The council invited all Arab countries to work for the implementation of their “constructive initiative in Lebanon” and praised the clarifications of Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal.