Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab announced the end of the first part of is political initiative. “I agreed with (Speaker Nabih) Berry on the next steps. My initiative comes in several stages. The first one ends today and the assessment comes after,” he said.
He pointed out, after meeting with Berry in Ain El Tineh, that “the aim of it is push towards discussions on the presidential elections in light of regional stability.”
“It is possible to achieve a breakthrough,” he added.
Bou Saab revealed that “Berry stance remains unchanged,” regarding a national dialogue about the presidency issue.
“After the refusal of a roundtable, we are trying to find a way forward to bring the parties together,” he added.
The deputy Speaker of Parliament then headed to Clemenceau and met the head of the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc Deputy Teymour Jumblatt. After the meeting, he said: “We confirmed our agreement on the necessity of organizing the next phase and working on collecting common denominators and extending bridges. I asked for their (the parliamentary bloc) cooperation in this matter.”
“I do not tackle the candidates names issue but it is a part of the discussion between the stakeholders and myself,” he added.
Bou Saab noted that “we will observe the results of the initiative and the visits in the next couple of weeks.”
For his part, member of the Democratic Gathering bloc, MP Hadi Abu Al-Hassan, welcomed “any step that contributes to breaking the presidential deadlock” and said: “We are open to any proposal.”
“It is necessary to determine the framework, content, and time frame of the dialogue with all partners in the country,” he said.
