Lebanese archbishop: Election of new president marks new beginning

Published: 2008-05-27

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- The May 25 election of Lebanon's new president and an agreement signed by rival political leaders mark a fresh start for the country, said a Lebanese archbishop. The agreement signed May 21 in Doha, Qatar, also opens "a relevant gate toward peace and stability in Middle Eastern countries," Maronite Catholic Archbishop Bechara Rai of Jbeil told Catholic News Service May 24. "Certainly, it's a new beginning," for Lebanon, he said. The Doha Agreement between the Western-backed government and the Iranian-backed, Hezbollah-led opposition ended an 18-month political crisis that nearly plunged the country into a civil war. The Doha Agreement called for the election of consensus candidate Michel Suleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government and reform of the electoral law prior to the 2009 parliamentary elections. Suleiman's election "will grant trust and confidence to the people and bring back new hope to the soul of the Lebanese," said Archbishop Rai. Suleiman, a native of Amchit, a coastal village north of Beirut, is from Archbishop Rai's diocese.

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