BEIRUT: Parliament is expected to meet early next month to extend its mandate, parliamentary sources Wednesday, as Speaker Nabih Berri vowed not to hold general elections in the absence of an elected president or in the event of boycott by any party.
“A session to extend Parliament’s term is expected to be held in the first week of next month,” said a lawmaker, one of the MPs who regularly meet Berri at Ain al-Tineh every Wednesday.
The lawmaker, who declined to be named, said the reason for pushing the date of the extension session to next month was because Prime Minister Tammam Salam was traveling to Germany Oct. 28 to attend an international conference on the Syrian refugee crisis and Berri has called for a parliamentary meeting to elect a president Oct. 29.
Earlier, parliamentary sources said lawmakers would meet in a crucial session next week to extend Parliament’s mandate for more than two years, in a move designed to prevent the country’s drift into deeper political chaos.
A number of MPs who met Berri at Ain al-Tineh quoted him as saying that parliamentary elections, scheduled for Nov. 16, should not take place in the absence of an elected president or if there was a boycott by any party.
He said the extension of Parliament’s mandate should be followed by parliamentary elections, provided a new president had been elected.
“If Parliament approves the extension [of its term] … and if a president is elected and a new electoral law is approved, then parliamentary elections should be held immediately,” Berri was quoted as saying.
He reiterated his opposition to an extension of Parliament’s mandate, saying that elections should only be held if all the major blocs promised not to boycott them and after the election of a new president.
Lebanon has been left without a president for nearly five months, after Parliament failed due to the lack of a quorum to choose a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year tenure ended on May 25.
Key political figures have openly said that an extension of Parliament’s term is a foregone conclusion.
When lawmakers meet next month, they are expected to endorse a draft proposal put forward by Zahle MP Nicolas Fattoush that calls for the extension of Parliament’s term for two years and seven months, to make it a full four-year mandate, after lawmakers, citing security concerns, extended the House’s term for 17 months in May 2013.
The Cabinet is scheduled to meet Thursday, with 48 items on its agenda, 32 of which were left from last week’s session.
The most important items left from the previous session were renewing the tenders for Sukleen and Lebanon’s two major mobile operators Touch and Afla and a proposal by Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian to renew contracts of a Kuwaiti and an Algerian company that sells oil derivatives to Lebanon.
As in previous sessions, the issue of Syrian refugees and Lebanese soldiers and policemen held hostage by ISIS and Nusra Front militants will figure high in the Cabinet’s discussions.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said the time was ripe to speak to Hezbollah about ways to secure Lebanon’s borders.
“The political and security situation in the country is appropriate for a dialogue on Hezbollah’s participation in defending the border,” he said.
“I am responsible for the border as well as all of Lebanon,” Machnouk said in response to a question about Hezbollah’s role in manning the eastern and northeastern border areas. He added that a government security plan should be “rectified and completed” to cover all troubled areas.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea returned to Beirut Wednesday after talks with senior officials in Saudi Arabia, according to a statement by Geagea’s office. During his Saudi visit, Geagea also met with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, with whom he discussed Lebanese and regional issues.
Separately, the United Kingdom has delivered military defense equipment to the Lebanese Army to deal with the jihadist threat on its eastern border with Syria, the British Embassy announced Wednesday.
The donation, worth $16 million, includes 164 Land Rovers, 1,500 sets of body armor, a radio communication network and border watchtowers.
The donation was announced one day after a meeting between U.K. Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. Sir Nicholas Houghton and Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi.
“I am impressed by the work done by the Lebanese Armed Forces to safeguard Lebanon’s security and sovereignty and contain the overspill from Syria,” Houghton said after the meeting.
The Lebanese Army has been receiving increased military aid from different states in recent years to contain the spillover of violence caused by the Syrian war. Saudi Arabia pledged the two largest military donations, totaling $4 billion.