Nabih Berri during a parliamentary session at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut in December. (Credit: Hassan Ibrahim/Lebanese Parliament)
BEIRUT — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will not accept the postponement of parliamentary elections “even by one minute,” a press release from his office Thursday stated. The polls are presently scheduled for May 15. Berri’s comments come amid fears of the postponement of the elections after the stepping down of the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri from political life and his calls for his Future Movement party to sit out these elections.
Here’s what we know:
• "I will not accept the postponement of the parliamentary elections, even by one minute,” Berry said in the press release.
• Earlier in the day, President Michel Aoun, with whom Berri has a tense relationship, had claimed that “the logistical aspect of the ballot is ready” and that the polls would take place on time “unless a compelling reason, inside or outside the country, arises, which [is something] we do not want.”