The Kuwaiti daily As-Seyassah said that Lebanese lobbyist in Washington Walid Maalouf called on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to resign from his position and open the way for the election of a new house speaker after having kept the parliament’s doors closed for more than a year.

Maalouf also called for the election of a new president to lead Lebanon out of its present crisis and restore it after 30 years of wars on its soil.

Maalouf, who served as America’s alternate representative to the UN General Assembly in 2003, and who is currently the head of USAID’s general diplomacy, said that Berri is responsible for the failure to elect a new president in Lebanon.

“The democracy Berri claims to be holding to is based on the constitution and on laws, and there are no preconditions to rebuilding the state, and there are no reasons justifying the closure of the parliament. This is something history has never known,” Maalouf said.

Maalouf also gave the Kuwaiti daily a copy of the official Lebanese diaspora vow, stating, “We, the diaspora Lebanese of all generations across all the continents of the world vow to be united in order to save Lebanon and work with democratic governments of the world to prevent Bashar Al-Assad from controlling Lebanon again. We promise our people not to back off until true freedom, sovereignty and independence are achieved.”

“Lebanon is a republic that cannot continue with the existence of corruption, militias, internal destabilization, regional interference, Palestinian camps, weapons and smuggling,” Maalouf said.

He also said that in July, he will send a diaspora delegation to Lebanon under the slogan “Solidarity with Lebanon – Elect a president.”
 
Maalouf added that US presidential candidate John McCain informed him that he will drive Hezbollah out of Lebanon.

-NOW Staff