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The initiative that MPs of the National Moderation Bloc have been trying to sell to opposing political parties in an attempt to pave the way for the long-delayed presidential election is still under scrutiny, despite the urgency of filling the state’s top post amid Lebanon’s multiple crises.
Bloc member MP Walid Baarini is hopeful about the outcome of the initiative, which he said was welcomed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
“We are going forward with our efforts, and, as emphasized by speaker Berri, the initiative should continue even if there are some obstacles,” Baarini told This is Beirut.
He explained that the hindrances were mainly pertaining to who was going to chair the proposed consultation session and send out invitations to the various blocs.
While other parties were responsive to the initiative, Hezbollah has yet to give a final answer. “The party still has some questions and is a bit hesitant. However, the mechanism will be thoroughly examined from all angles so that we can all agree on it and proceed with our work,” Baarini said.
Under the proposed initiative, parliamentary consultations on the presidential election would be held at Place de l’Étoile, followed by an open electoral session with successive rounds, until a president is elected.
In addition to Hezbollah and Berri’s Amal movement, the initiative was proposed to the Kataeb party, the Lebanese Forces, the Renewal bloc, the Democratic Gathering bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Change Coalition, and independent parliamentarians.
In a related development, Berri was quoted in the “Asharq Al Awsat” newspaper as insisting that “the Parliament’s General Secretariat is the (only) one that may extend invitations to parliamentary blocs” to participate in the ‘dialogue’, which he will “personally chair without any preconditions.”
However, Baarini reported a contradictory stance expressed by Berri during his meeting with the bloc: “If they accept that I chair the session, so be it. If not, I won’t object,” the MP quoted Berri as saying word by word.
The Akkar MP told This is Beirut that the bloc will be meeting the ambassadors of the five-nation group, known as the Quintet Committee, to brief them on the outcome of their encounters with the different political factions to build on in the future.
The bloc’s efforts, however, are expected to slow down during the fasting month of Ramadan.
Commenting on the bloc’s initiative, a source close to Berri, said the speaker was “supportive from day one and still is.”
Berri considers “the initiative as part of the efforts that could break the deadlock and end the boycott movement, hoping that it would lead to results,” the source added.
Regarding the opposition’s rejection of the “dialogue” proposed by Berri, the source ironized, “For the sake of Arabic grammar rules, they didn’t accept ‘dialogue’ sessions but went for ‘consultations’, so be it.”
The Opposition has refused Berri’s call for dialogue, arguing that it will be in vain since the ‘Shiite duo’ (Amal-Hezbollah) is clinging to the presidential candidacy of Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh and preventing the election of a president by provoking a lack of quorums.
The Lebanese Forces reacted on Monday to Berri’s declarations to the daily “Asharq Al Awsat,” which they described as a “violation of the Constitution and the national coexistence pact.”
“The proposal to hold a dialogue session under Berri’s chairmanship and by invitation of parliament’s General Secretariat implies that all constitutional prerogatives, starting with the presidency of the republic and the designation of a prime minister and ending with the formation of the government, pass specifically through Berri’s table. This is a sheer violation of the constitution that contradicts the national coexistence pact, and it is unacceptable to all,” the LF media office said in a statement.
The post of President of the Republic has been vacant for 17 months since former President Michel Aoun’s six-year mandate expired at the end of October 2022, with no successor being elected due to sharp political divisions.
