Five countries that recently held a meeting on Lebanon in Paris have warned of serious consequences if MPs fail to elect a head of state, the prime minister's office said on Monday.
The ambassadors of France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt or their representatives visited Prime Minister Najib Mikati to convey this message to him, according to the Presidency of the Council.
"Questioning of relations with Lebanon"
The five countries had held a meeting on February 6 devoted to the situation in the country in full economic collapse and without a president for nearly three and a half months.
Diplomats warned that
"failure to elect a President of the Republic will lead to a global questioning of relations with Lebanon
," according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.
The deputies, deeply divided, fail to elect a successor to Michel Aoun, whose mandate expired on October 31 and Najib Mikati leads a resigning cabinet with limited powers.
The diplomats told him that
"real support for Lebanon will begin after the election of a president and with the continued implementation of the reforms"
demanded by the international community, according to the press release.
The five diplomats also visited Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
No communiqué had been published following the Paris meeting.
François Delmas, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told AFP that this meeting was
"technical"
and
"did not have a decision-making character".
Read alsoThe keys to understanding why Lebanon is looking for a president
Parliament, where neither the camp of the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah nor that of its adversaries have a clear majority, has already held eleven sessions without result since the end of September.
At the end of the last meeting, on January 19, two deputies from the protest movement of October 2019 decided to observe a sit-in there until the election of a President of the Republic.
No date has been set for a new session of Parliament and the economic slump is deepening.
On Monday, the dollar traded at over 68,000 Lebanese pounds, against 50,000 LL less than a month ago.
Before the crisis of autumn 2019, one dollar was worth 1507 LL.