Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri refuted the opposition’s calls for an open-ended parliamentary election session to elect a president. He stressed that no such session is possible “without prior consultations or dialogue.”
“If they have any other way, let them come forward with it. I am ready to work on it,” Berri said in comments made Sunday to Al-Jadeed TV.
“I have been responsive to everything that serves the presidential dossier,” Berri claimed. “If necessary, the Deputy Parliament Speaker can chair the dialogue. I have no problem with that,” he added.
He argued that Parliament is not able to secure the quorum of 86 required to hold the election session except through consensus and understandings.
On his meeting with the ambassadors of the Quintet (France, the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt) to try to help Lebanon break the presidential deadlock, Berri said they conveyed a united stance. “We do not have any candidate to suggest, nor do we have a veto on any name, and we are ready to help you with whatever you want,” they said.
Commenting on the return to Beirut of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Berri said that “he is welcome to resume political work” whenever he decides to, noting that the last elections proved that Hariri still has great popular support despite his self-imposed retirement from political life.
