Another Clerical Veto?

You mess with Sanioura you mess with all the Sunnis?

According to Al-Jazeera’s reporter, the Lebanese Sunni Mufti will be heading the Friday prayer in the governmental Seraille in a show of support to the Sanioura Government.

In principle, I am against clerical intervention in politics, but -a big “but”- I am all for consistency and for equal treatment.

Since we’re in the spirit of the “Today we are Lahhoud” day, it is worthwhile remembering that when hundreds of thousands of people wanted to march to Baabda to topple president Lahoud, it was the Maronite Patriarch who stood in the way (now he regrets it but the precedent has been set). The argument was that toppling the president by force would set a precedent that hurts the (Maronite) presidency itself regardless of the person occupying the post.

In my opinion, March 8’s smartest PR move was to conveniently ignore president Lahhoud and try to compare Sanioura to Omar Karami. But we are not that naive and forgetful, we all remember Berri’s position regarding the presidency (We support whatever the Patriarch Sfeir recommends.)

The Sanioura government is not another Karami government. It is here to stay.