Lebanon Left in Crisis by Failure to Elect Speaker

Too few members of Lebanon’s Parliament showed up today to elect a new speaker, plunging the country into a new and perhaps fatal constitutional crisis.

“I want to announce the death of this country,” said Shia Muslim deputy Kazem al-Khalil, 84, the oldest member of Parliament, after no parliamentary quorum was reached.

“It is sacrilegious for us to dance on the tomb of Lebanon which we buried with our hands and collaborated in killing,” he told Christian Voice of Lebanon radio. “We are heading toward dismemberment, partition and the end.”

Lebanon now has two rival governments and no president.

Too Few Deputies

Only 26 deputies, mostly Muslims allied with Syria, arrived for the parliamentary session. Thirty-nine members were needed for the election to be held.

Most of the 41 Christians among the 76 surviving deputies boycotted the session to protest the site, close to Syrian-held positions in Muslim West Beirut.

Failure to reelect Speaker Hussein Husseini or a successor, will paralyze the Legislature, the last institution where Muslim and Christian politicians still meet, and has raised fears of partition and more violence in Lebanon.

The constitution gives no guidance on what happens if the Parliament, which elects the president, votes on cabinets and approves decrees and bills, does not choose a speaker.

Worst Crisis Since 1943

Lebanon, ravaged by 13 years of civil war, now faces its worst constitutional and political crisis since independence from French rule in 1943.

The speaker, traditionally a Shia Muslim under an unwritten national pact, under normal circumstances names the site and date for presidential elections

Lebanon’s deputies had resisted the sectarian and regional struggle in Lebanon until their failure to elect a successor to outgoing President Amin Gemayel, whose term ended in September.

Political analysts have expressed fears that a struggle between Syria and Iraq, which support the rival Lebanese governments, could spark a new round of violence and result in partition.

Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, where it has 25,000 troops, backs the Muslim-led caretaker Cabinet of acting Prime Minister Selim Hoss.

Iraq supports the Christian interim military government of army commander Gen. Michel Aoun.