Amid chaos of Syrian war next door, absence of sitting Lebanese President feeds instability at home: Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Beirut (dpa) – Lebanon marked its longest ever period without a serving head of state on Tuesday – 409 days since president Michel Suleiman ended his mandate, ushering a protracted period of political bickering over his replacement. The previous longest period without a president – 408 days – came in the late 1980s, as the country’s…