Outgoing Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel lashed out Tuesday at those who are obstructing the election of a new president, expressing concern over the yearlong vacuum at the Baabda Palace.

“There are several initiatives but we are only concerned with heading to the parliament and electing a new president as the country can no longer endure” the lingering circumstances, Gemayel told reporters after meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri at his residence in Ain el-Tineh.

Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that the paralysis of the parliament was harming Lebanon's national security and threatening its internal stability.

Blocking legislation leads to political and constitutional problems but also threatens the country’s national security, and ways to protect it and consolidate its stability, said Berri in remarks published in As Safir daily on Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has criticized parliamentary blocs that are pressuring him into putting certain draft-laws on the agenda of a legislative session, saying he is not their employee.

The Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces had urged Berri to put a draft-law on giving the nationality to Lebanese expatriates on the agenda of the session.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has expressed concern over the rising dispute between the country's different factions, which could paralyze the government.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Monday, Salam urged all parties to be “wise and confront the difficult situation that the country is living.”

Prime Minister Tammam Salam warned Lebanon's bickering political parties on Tuesday that they would fail in governing the country without consensus, urging them to elect a new president without further delay.

“Lebanon is the only thing we've got. Putting it in danger is an unforgivable crime” such as the crime of the presidential vacuum, Salam said at the Lebanese Education Conference that was held at the Phoenicia hotel in Beirut.

Lebanon's religious leaders on Monday voiced concern over the continued presidential vacuum in the country and urged political forces to head to parliament and elect a new head of state.

“We express our concern over the continued presidential vacuum, given the threat this constitutional vacuum poses to Lebanon's sovereignty, security and cultural formula,” the spiritual summit's closing statement said.

A number of ministers noted on Tuesday that the role of the cabinet “will remain crippled” in light of the presidential vacuum.

The so-called “consultative gathering” urged after talks at former President Michel Suleiman's residence Prime Minister Tammam Salam “to continue with his methodology in taking government decisions.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has denied that he proposed his son-in-law Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz to be appointed army chief.

“I am always criticized over my alleged intentions and thoughts,” Aoun told al-Akhbar newspaper in the second part of an interview published on Wednesday. “I never said I wanted him (Roukoz) army commander. Journalists said so.”

The Progressive Socialist Party clarified Tuesday afternoon the content of an interview for party chief MP Walid Jumblat with As Safir newspaper, noting that his son, Taymour, will run normally in parliamentary elections “just like other candidates.”

The line saying “Jumblat will hand over his Shouf parliamentary seat to his son Taymour in May” was “inaccurate”, the PSP said in a statement.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has promised to hold accountable corrupt officials if he were elected a president, denying that he has made certain political concessions and stressing that he is part of the resistance axis against jihadists and Israel.

“If I were elected president, I would deploy the accountability system and consolidate judicial inspection,” Aoun told al-Akhbar newspaper in a lengthy interview published on Tuesday.