BEIRUT: A Parliament session to elect a new president will not be held Wednesday over a lack of quorum, in the 15th aborted attempt to break the political deadlock that has left Lebanon with no head of state for nearly six months.
Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday’s session was doomed to fail. “Nothing new has practically happened yet in the presidential election,” Berri was quoted by visitors as saying, regardless of the internal and external positive signals he had spoken about in the past few days about breaking the deadlock.
The parliamentary Future bloc, meanwhile, called on the rival factions to reach an agreement to elect a president, warning that the continued vacuum in the top Christian post would throw the country into further political and security chaos.
“The basic mission that should be given priority by lawmakers and political parties is to work to achieve consensus on the election of a new president who can bring the Lebanese together … and to put an end to the vacancy in the top presidency post, in addition to preparing a new electoral law,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
“The continued vacancy in the top presidency post contributes toward the continued state of political disarray and security chaos in the country, which is spreading as a result of closer political rapprochement and integration between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement,” it added.
The bloc blamed Hezbollah and the FPM for scuttling the presidential vote and obstructing the work of constitutional institutions “because of their continued boycott of Parliament sessions to elect a new president.”
The Future bloc last week offered to reach a compromise with its March 8 rivals over electing “a strong and consensus president,” in the latest attempt to resolve the presidential crisis.
MPs have failed in 14 attempts since April to elect a president over a lack of quorum as the March 14 coalition and the rival Hezbollah-led March 8 bloc remain split over a candidate for the presidency. In the absence of an accord by the rival factions to choose a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, senior government officials have said that a regional consensus, mainly between Saudi Arabia and Iran, was essential to break the presidential stalemate.
“The presidential election is part of a regional consensus rather than a consensus among the Lebanese,” Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said.
Berri, according to visitors who met him at his Ain al-Tineh residence Tuesday, expressed satisfaction with the revival of a parliamentary subcommittee designed discuss a raft of draft proposals for a new electoral law.
He said the subcommittee, representing March 8 and March 14 lawmakers, would discuss a hybrid electoral law during the one-month deadline set for it until the beginning of next year to accomplish its mission.
Berri’s representative on the subcommittee had presented during previous rounds of talks a hybrid electoral proposal that calls for half of Parliament’s 128 members to be elected through a winner-takes-all system and the other half according to proportional representation.
Berri said the Future Movement and MP Walid Jumblatt, who had voiced reservations about proportional representation, had now accepted it.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said in Dubai Tuesday that he had discussed with UAE officials the issue of the Lebanese servicemen held hostage by ISIS and Nusra Front militants.
“The issue of the kidnapped soldiers is very sensitive and requires treatment with high levels of delicacy,” Salam said after meeting the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
Speaking at a news conference at the Lebanese consulate in Dubai at the end of a two-day visit, Salam said the security situation in Lebanon was under control and national unity existed in the country.
Salam had told reporters on the flight to Dubai that he was willing to discuss military aid from the UAE to the Lebanese Army and security forces.
Asked about such talks, he did not announce any new grants but stressed that the UAE was never behind in helping Lebanon militarily. “They have provided many training opportunities for our security forces and introduced them to the latest technologies,” Salam said. “They have also provided us with weapons, including a fair number of helicopters.”
After visiting the American University in Dubai, Salam headed to the media corporation MBC, where he met journalists and executives from the company and its subsidiary Al-Arabiya.