Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi backs the candidacy of former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud for the presidency, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday. According to the daily, al-Rahi informed officials ahead of his trip to the Vatican last week that he adopts Baroud’s candidacy based on surveys carried out by Bkirki. A second round will be held on Wednesday to elect a new head of state amid reports saying that the lawmakers from the March 8 alliance will fail to attend the session, leading to a lack quorum.

 

Lawmakers failed last week to elect a new president as no candidate was able to garner the needed two-thirds of votes of the 128-member parliament to become Lebanon’s next head of state. [Link]