{"id":3591,"date":"2022-08-07T17:13:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-07T11:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2022-08-07T17:13:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T11:13:05","slug":"top-christian-cleric-shameful-delay-in-cabinet-formation-causing-lebanons-decay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/photonews\/2022\/08\/07\/news\/3591\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Christian cleric: \u2018Shameful\u2019 delay in cabinet formation causing Lebanon\u2019s decay"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_3592\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3592\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3592\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/top-3-300x171.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3592\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai is pictured during a meeting in Bkerke, Lebanon, October 30, 2021. (File\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>BEIRUT, Broadcasting News Corporation : Lebanon\u2019s top Christian cleric said on Sunday it is \u201cshameful\u201d that politicians have yet to form a new cabinet nearly three months after elections, blaming their chronic feuding for the country\u2019s \u201cdecay.\u201d Many Lebanese see the long-entrenched governing elite as hamstrung by corruption and dysfunction, and blame it for pushing Lebanon into a financial and economic meltdown that has left eight in 10 people poor. In his weekly sermon, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros Al-Rai drew an unfavorable comparison between Lebanon\u2019s progress in securing a maritime boundary deal with longtime foe Israel and the paralysis in domestic politics. \u201cIsn\u2019t it shameful that authorities make efforts to reach an agreement with Israel on maritime borders but refrain from forming a government? Has it become easier for them to agree with Israel than to agree on a government among the Lebanese?\u201d he said. \u201cIsn\u2019t the split in political power in Lebanon, and of the parties&#8230; the basis of the (country\u2019s) political, economy, financial and social decay?\u201d he added.<br \/>\nRai wields significant influence in Lebanon, where the political system is based on power-sharing among various Muslim and Christian sects, with the presidency reserved for a Maronite Catholic. In calling out politicians over the crisis, Rai appeared to be trying to break the deadlock. The Maronite Patriarch said \u201cugly campaigns in the media\u201d appeared aimed at delaying government formation and the election of a new president later on this year. Rai was alluding to an escalating dispute between President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who was re-nominated as premier after parliamentary elections in May and has been struggling to form a new cabinet. Mikati presented a speedy draft cabinet line-up to Aoun in June and has stuck to it, although Aoun has suggested a different make-up. Last week, Aoun\u2019s Free Patriotic Movement issued a wave of statements, accusing Mikati of delaying cabinet formation and even of accumulating wealth through corruption. Mikati\u2019s office responded by saying Aoun\u2019s party was out of touch with reality in Lebanon. News collected from ARAB NEWS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BEIRUT, Broadcasting News Corporation : Lebanon\u2019s top Christian cleric said on Sunday it is \u201cshameful\u201d that politicians have yet to form a new cabinet nearly three months after elections, blaming their chronic feuding for the country\u2019s \u201cdecay.\u201d Many Lebanese see the long-entrenched governing elite as hamstrung by corruption and dysfunction, and blame it for pushing &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photonews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3593,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bnc24.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}