The National Alliance of Lebanese Americans issued the following press release:

In its statement released Wednesday, November 2, 2005, the Maronite Bishops of Lebanon issued a statement in support of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud remaining in office until the completion of the extended mandate voted upon by the Lebanese parliament in August 2004.

As reported in Reuters, the Bishops wrote, "The current dispute over whether the president should remain or vacate his position has got Lebanon into an awkward situation. The presidency should be above this dispute." The Bishops' statement also declared, "This dispute is paralyzing political activity in Lebanon and distracting officials from taking an interest in deteriorating daily affairs of citizens and harms the economic situation." Finally the report quotes the Bishops as declaring that the constitution should have the last word in resolving the issue of Lahoud's mandate.

The position of the Bishops reflects the position of the Maronite clergy generally that the Lebanese presidency, as the reserve of the Maronites under the confessional system of apportionment of elective offices, is the "voice" of the Christians in the counsels of government in Lebanon with Fouad Siniora, the Sunni Prime Minister and Nabih Berri the Shiite Speaker of Parliament. Fearful of the precedent that may be set of involuntarily removing the president from office and therefore adversely affecting the prestige and function of the Christian presidency, the clergy have taken this position that any action taken with regard to Lahoud mandate be accomplished strictly within the bounds of the constitution.

The National Alliance of Lebanese Americans (NALA) shares the concerns of the Maronite Bishops with regard to the paralysis that exists in the Lebanese government and the isolation in which the Lahoud presidency has been placed by events. NALA is also committed to the principle of constitutional government and to the concept that any situation which arises in the national life of the country must have a constitutional solution, or it has no solution at all. The rule of law demands that every action undertaken by the government created and established by the constitution have a grounds and a basis for action found within the four corners of the constitution.

The reality of the Lahoud Extension, unfortunately does not reflect such a commitment to constitutional government in Lebanon. Rather, the Lebanese Constitution provided that the Lahoud presidential mandate should expire, constitutionally, in October 2004. That a three year extension was voted upon and approved by the Lebanese Parliament was a function of several actions which occurred outside of the four corners of the constitution. First, the Lebanese Constitution was amended by Parliament under instruction and duress exerted against the Deputies by the Syrian intelligence services headquartered at Anjar, Lebanon. The results of the UN Commission on the Assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri makes clear that pressure was exerted from the highest levels of the Syrian government against officials of the Lebanese government to force the amendment of the constitution so as to allow for an extension of the presidential mandate. The amendment, which was adopted by Parliament, was the product of coercion, undue influence, threats and intimidation carried out by the occupying Syrian force against members of the Lebanese Parliament.

Second, the vote in Parliament to avail itself of the coerced amendment to the constitution and thereby allow Mr. Lahoud to be extended in office, was equally the product of the same coercion exercised by the same illicit source in violation not only of the will of the Lebanese people, but in derogation of the sovereignty of the Lebanese Republic.

The fact that Lahoud remains in office is a residual manifestation of the occupation policies of coercion, duress and undue influence exercised by the former occupying power, Syria, against the will of the Lebanese people and in derogation of Lebanese sovereignty. The will of the people was clearly shown in March of 2005 when the people voted with their feet in demanding the end of the Syrian occupation and the hegemony that it exercised against the will of the Lebanese people in the public affairs of the country.

NALA calls upon the Lebanese Parliament to abrogate this remaining vestige of the former occupation; restore integrity to the Lebanese Constitution; and repeal the amendment which was adopted while the country was under occupation. International law does not sanction the occupying force taking such action with regard to an occupied state. With the abrogation of this amendment, the extended term of Mr. Lahoud would immediately cease as such term is not sanctioned by the Constitution as it existed prior to its coerced amendment. NALA calls upon the Maronite Bishops to take the broader view and to assume their role, along with the Maronite Patriarch, of representing the unity of Lebanon in all of her confessional communities. The Bishops are quite correct that with an isolated President, the government is paralyzed at a time when action is demanded on all fronts. Just today, there has been an exchange of artillery and mortar fire along the southern border in the Shebaa District. In addition there is the fiscal crisis of the country that is demanding attention, the electricity shortages, the need to end the other vestige of the late occupation and that is to end the systemic organized corruption that exists within the Lebanese government, and the need to pass and adopt a new electoral law.

The nation has pressing needs, the solutions to which will not only affect the people in the near term but will set the course of the nation for years and decades to come. NALA therefore calls upon Emile Lahoud to respond to the needs of his fellow Maronites and fellow Lebanese more than he responds to the interests of those who have installed him in the office of the presidency beyond his constitutional term. For the good of the Lebanese Republic and to restore the voice of the Christians to the councils of government, we call upon Mr. Lahoud to perform the ultimate patriotic act and step down from office, lead the effort to restore the Lebanese constitution and call the Parliament into electoral session before the end of 2005 to elect the Twelfth President of the Republic.