While the presidential campaign has started unofficially, the Maronite patriarch Béchara Raï has stepped up to the plate. After calling a week ago for the election of a head of state “capable of extricating the country from the abyss into which the political class has propelled it”, the prelate returned to the charge last Sunday to define the profile of the future president and the position of the Church on this subject. If the moral and personal qualities that he said he wished to find in the pretender to the first magistracy are not surprising, it is rather his “political” profile that challenges. “We must elect a president who is above the fray, political and partisan alignments, a president who is not provocative, nor driven by personal interests, capable of being a national and constitutional reference, endowed with a unfailing ethics”, said the patriarch in his homily. By opting for a preferably non-partisan candidate, the patriarch seems to have dismissed from the outset the three most likely personalities for the position, namely the leader of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea, the boss of the Free Patriotic Current Gebran Bassil and the leader of the Marada Sleiman Frangié. It is a strong message that says a lot about the disappointment of the prelate of the three Christian leaders and his desire to see new figures arrive in Baabda. “We must elect a president with proven political experience, a respected and courageous personality, a statesman equidistant from everyone,” insisted Bechara Raï. A description that could partly apply to army chief Joseph Aoun, but also to certain independent figures that those close to Bkerké refuse to name. “The patriarch already has a few names in mind,” says a political figure who is following the case closely. At no time did Bechara Raï speak of a “strong president”, a formula hackneyed by the Aounist camp throughout Michel Aoun’s mandate, namely that the president must have significant popular representation. It was however with the blessing of Bishop Raï, at the end of the famous meeting in Bkerké of the four Maronite poles Samir Geagea, Amine Gemayel, Sleiman Frangié and Michel Aoun, that the latter had been elected head of state. October 31, 2016. Today, as the sexennium draws to a close, the head of the Maronite Church seems to want to bury the concept of the strong president within the community. “The principle of the strong president has failed,” he said a few weeks ago in an interview with the al-Jadeed channel. “The message that the patriarch wanted to convey, among other things, is that it is time to give others a chance. Bishop Raï is not against anyone in particular, but whoever is running for president must have the required qualities”, comments a source close to Bkirké. Michel Aoun, who had presented himself as a compromise candidate, could not remain at an equal distance from all the protagonists, according to the patriarchy. By dwelling on the qualities of the future tenant of Baabda, the head of the Church wanted at the same time to block the way to Hezbollah and to Michel Aoun as regards the choice of this figure. Understand that the Church refuses that the head of the Christian state be imposed by the Shiite party and its allies, whom Bechara Raï described a week ago, without naming them, as “forces of the accomplished fact”.
Shea at Rai
“We refuse, like the Lebanese people, that the presidential deadline is manipulated. We are committed to respecting the constitutional deadlines set for this election, which must be held on time,” the Maronite prelate said again last Sunday. He even went further by affirming that the presidential election – scheduled from August 31 and until a month before the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate, on October 31 – will have to be held as soon as possible, “one month at most before the end of the sexennium. He thus warned against any temptation that the president might have to remain in place if a consensus around his successor did not emerge. A warning which also applies against the vacancy in the supreme magistracy. If Bishop Raï has a few names of presidential candidates in mind, he will not divulge them, either in public or during his private meetings. We learned on this subject that the patriarch received yesterday the ambassador of the United States Dorothy Shea, a visit which will be followed by those of other diplomats during the week.
In 2016, Béchara Raï was criticized for bringing together under his sponsorship only four presidential candidates. “Except that it was these four who had decided among themselves to reduce the club of presidential candidates to this number. Bishop Raï only respected their choice”, defends the source close to Bkirké. This would explain why the patriarch decided this time to broaden the range of potential candidates by simply defining the profile of the future president. The names that have recently circulated in the press, presented as favorites in the eyes of Bkirké, are not exact, says the source close to Béchara Raï, in reference to Ziyad Baroud, Camille Abou Sleiman, Wadih el-Khazen and Naji Boustani.
Bkerke decision maker
If it is not completely new insofar as the head of the Church continues to advocate reforms and the need to straighten out the country which is sinking a little more every day, this Sunday’s homily has the advantage of dotting the i’s and remembering that the last word has not yet been said about the presidential election. “The patriarch’s approach is in line with his positions taken in recent years. He has been in a logic of change and reforms since the uprising in October 2019 of a new generation against the established order”, confides the source close to Bkerké. For the patriarchy, the stakes are high. It concerns not only the future of a country in decay, but also, and more particularly, that of Christians whose leaders are torn between two axes (pro and anti-Hezbollah) and divided around interests that are more personal than national. A polarization that has taken place to the detriment of the well-being of the Lebanese and the country. Thanks to its unfailing unity, the Shiite tandem Amal-Hezbollah has established itself as a formidable decision-maker managing to preserve the interests of its community and to weigh heavily in the main deadlines of the country. Now, it is the opposite spectacle which presents itself on the Christian side. The head of the Church has been trying for three years to bring together the leaders of the community in order to encourage them to reach a minimum agreement to save the country from its distress. In vain. This would be the reason why the patriarch decided to campaign and draw red lines, recalling that the Church is a full player in this deadline in the absence of a Christian front which does not arrive to assemble to agree on a suitable candidate.
“This is a critical time, and the future of Lebanon is at stake. None of the Christian leaders has shown responsibility or the will to change things. They do not properly assess the risk that looms on the horizon. Therefore, they must bear the consequences of their policy,” concludes the source close to Bkirké.
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While the presidential campaign has started unofficially, the Maronite patriarch Béchara Raï has stepped up to the plate. After calling a week ago for the election of a head of state “capable of extricating the country from the abyss into which the political class has propelled it”, the prelate returned to the charge last Sunday to define the profile of…
