Lebanon | 10 November 2016

Lebanon: Christian president elected - a new era begins?

Show: false / Country: Lebanon /
Lebanon"s presidential vacuum, which had developed into a crisis when parliament ceased to pass laws, is over. As BBC News reported on 31 October 2016, 81 year old Maronite Christian Michel Aoun has been elected president. However, there is uncertainty about negotiations carried out with his political rival, Saad Hariri, who is leader of the Sunni Future Movement, backed by Saudi Arabia. Hariri is likely to be appointed prime minister. Henriette Kats, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, is not surprised that a Christian has been made president: "Traditionally Lebanon"s president is a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament, a Shiite Muslim. However, what is surprising is that Saudi-backed political rival and billionaire, Hariri, has come to some agreement with Michel Aoun, whose Free Patriotic Movement has been allied with Iranian-backed‚  Hezbollah since 2006 and supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Whether this truly means the beginning of a new era for Lebanon - as Hariri claims - remains to be seen and it is unclear how these political changes will affect the sizable Christian community. The country is struggling to deal with deep divisions over the five-year civil war in Syria and the arrival of more than one million refugees - many of them Christians."  

 

Related Articles

Our site uses cookies

Save

We use cookies and other technologies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience. We use them, among other things, to offer you an option for secure donations and anonymously evaluate access to our website. It also allows us to share our own YouTube videos on the website. Depending on the function, the data is passed on to third parties and processed by them. More information on The use of your data can be found in our Privacy Policy. You can revoke or adjust your choice at any time under Cookie Settings.

Accept all
 
Accept Neccessary