Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri warned on Monday that the existential threat to the country came from within as he made a case for reforming Lebanon's longstanding political system
BEIRUT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2020) Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri warned on Monday that the existential threat to the country came from within as he made a case for reforming Lebanon's longstanding political system.
"The worst thing laid bare by the explosion in Beirut's port is that the political system is useless and that the confessional model needs to be changed," the Shiite politician said in a televised address.
Under the country's sectarian power-sharing pact, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of the National Assembly a Shiite Muslim.
Berri warned politicians seeking to take advantage of the country's precarious political and economic situation that they no longer had the trust of their people and called for swift reforms.
He spoke after President Michel Aoun designated Mustapha Adib, the ambassador to Germany, as a new prime minister and tasked him with forming a new government. Aoun has similarly suggested making Lebanon a secular state.
