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Cardinal Rai says election of new president 'a priority'

26-06-2014 | 09:43

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Cardinal Rai says election of new president 'a priority'

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Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Boutros al-Rai said the election of a new president is both "a need and a priority for our Sunni and Shi'ite brothers" in order to spare Lebanon further repercussions from the war in Syria and Iraq.

Cardinal Rai's statements were made during the opening of the Antiochian Conference on Thursday where he also said that it was an “utmost necessity to achieve peace through dialogue away from violence and oppression.”

The conference opened at the Balamand University under the slogan "Antiochian unity."

Lebanon officially entered presidential vacuum on May 25 after the six-year term of former President Michel Sleiman expired.

Lawmakers have repeatedly failed to choose a successor to the head of state. The impasse highlights the stark political divisions in the country.

Lebanon's presidency, allocated to the Maronite Christian community under Lebanon's sectarian division of power, is one of the three main political offices alongside the prime minister - a Sunni Muslim - and parliamentary speaker - a Shi'ite.

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