Arab League urges Lebanon to agree on new president

BEIRUT, Lebanon

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Tuesday called on Lebanese politicians to reach a consensus on electing a new president.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun left office on Monday after his six-year term expired, with lawmakers failing to agree on a new president.

Aboul Gheit met Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Algeria on the sidelines of the 31st Arab summit.

The meeting took up the latest development in Lebanon, his spokesman Jamal Rushdie said.

The Arab League chief warned that a long presidential vacuum in Lebanon would have negative repercussions on the country, the spokesman added.

The current presidential vacancy in Lebanon is the fourth since the country’s independence from French colonialism in 1943.

According to the Lebanese Constitution, the government assumes the authority of the country's president in case of a failure to elect a new president.

Lebanon has already been without a fully functioning government since May.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report