In his Sunday sermon in Bkerke, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai urged Lebanon’s leaders to break free from personal interests and political deadlock, referring to the formation of the government. He called for a return to the principles outlined in the Constitution and National Pact (Taif Agreement). He stressed that Lebanon’s governance crisis stems from a failure to uphold these national agreements, warning that continued violations have led to chaos and dysfunction.
Rai directed his criticism at those obstructing government formation, accusing them of prioritizing “hateful quotas that have nothing to do with the charter and the constitution, but are the opposite of them.”
He urged them to return to the commitments made in president Joseph Aoun's inauguration speech, which he described as central to addressing Lebanon’s governance crisis, “This is a crisis of governance and rulers and the non-application or misapplication, interpretation and formulation of regulations. We are in a crisis of governance that is supposed to change political performance in our vision for maintaining our security and borders, in our economic policies, in our planning to take care of our social affairs, in the concept of democracy, in majority rule and minority rights, in Lebanon’s image abroad and our relations with the diaspora, in the philosophy of accountability and oversight, in the centralization of the state and unbalanced development, in fighting unemployment and in combating poverty.”
Rai emphasized that personal and factional interests disrupt Lebanon’s unique political system, which is rooted in coexistence and structured by the Constitution, the National Pact and the Taif Agreement of 1989. “Because this document was not fully implemented at the time, political life began to falter and regress, and it continues to do so to this day,” he said, lamenting the ongoing disregard for constitutional principles.
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