The Lebanese Forces criticized Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s actions regarding the presidential election process, accusing him of obstructing the constitutional path to electing a new head of state.
According to the Lebanese Forces, Berri’s proposal for an official dialogue table under his chairmanship implies an undue concentration of power, contrary to the principles enshrined in the Constitution. In addition, they pointed out that this “contradicts the coexistence charter, and this is what no one will go with.”
The statement asserts that Berri’s actions undermine the autonomy of parliamentary blocs, insinuating that “the parliamentary blocs do not have the freedom to meet with each other, which is completely untrue.”
Berri and the General Secretariat of the House of Representatives’ tasks are “limited to invitations to the sessions of the General Assembly and parliamentary work,” they added.
Moreover, the Lebanese Forces accuse President Berri of derailing efforts to elect a new president by obstructing the prescribed constitutional mechanisms. They also emphasized that “there has been no result so far because of the resistance’s insistence on an unconstitutional mechanism, its rejection of the constitutional mechanism by going to an open session with consecutive sessions, its insistence on a candidate it is unable to elect, its rejection of the third option, and its continuation of the same obstructive approach.”
“Unfortunately, Berri has wasted more than a year and 4 months so far by obstructing the presidential elections,” added the statement.
The Lebanese Forces considered that Berri’s dialogue “threatens the initiative of the ‘National Moderation’ bloc, which calls for convening and consulting for one session and not the pre-packaged dialogue aimed at bringing former Minister Suleiman Frangieh to the presidency.”
The Lebanese Forces advocated for “an open presidential election session with consecutive sessions until a president is elected.”
