Follow our live coverage of the new Parliament's first session

Shortly before 2:30 p.m., re-elected Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced a new meeting of the legislature next Tuesday at 11 a.m. for the election of parliamentary committees. Today's session was then adjourned.

Maronite Parliament secretary role goes to FPM MP Alain Aoun with 65 votes. Ziad Hawat obtained 38 votes, while Michel Douaihy, despite his withdrawal, got four. Nine blank ballots were counted and 10 canceled.

Hadi Abou Hassan, meanwhile, has wons the Druze post after Firas Hamdan, a protest movement MP, announced his withdrawal from the race for the election of the secretaries of the Parliament bureau in sign of protest against the procedure under which the vote was held.

Following Nabih Berri's re-election as Parliament speaker, uniformed security forces along with Berri's supporters danced in celebration outside the speaker's Ain al-Tineh residence, video footage posted by local media outlets showed. 

Voting has begun for Parliament's two secretaries. The secretaries must come from the Druze and Maronite communities respectively. The voting procedure for the posts has sparked controversy, with some MPs, particularly from the opposition, emphasizing the need to vote for both in the same ballot, while the other camp advocates voting on the basis of one name per ballot.

This controversy illustrates the tensions between the two camps within Parliament.

After about 10 minutes of discussion, the legislature opted for a vote with one name per ballot.

Speaking after his election, the newly elected deputy speaker, Elias Bou Saab, thanked his losing rival Ghassan Skaff for this "noble competition." "That's real democracy," he said, expressing hope to "collaborate" with his fellow MPs. 

Elias Bou Saab has been elected deputy parliament speaker with 65 votes in the second round of voting for the role.

Ghassan Skaff, an independent MP from West Bekaa-Rashaya who is supported by the Progressive Socialist Party of Walid Joumblatt, meanwhile received 60 votes. Two blank ballots were deposited in the ballot box, while another, for a "Michel Skaff" was canceled. The post of deputy speaker traditionally goes to a Greek-Orthodox elected official.

In the first round, Bou Saab had obtained 64 votes and therefore could not claim the absolute majority of 65 votes necessary for election to the role. 

Photo: MP Elias Bou Saab (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)

While waiting for the results of the second round voting for Parliament's deputy speaker, read our portrait of "Halimé Kaakour, the newly elected feminist MP from Baasir who shook the long-established political norms of Lebanon."

After a short debate amongst MPs over whether the majority of votes for the deputy speaker must be a majority of the chamber or a majority of non-blank votes, a second round of voting for the post has begun. In the first round, with 64 votes, Elias Bou Saab was just one vote away from attaining an absolute majority. Ghassan Skaff meanwhile received 49 votes.

No candidate has achieved an absolute majority on the first round of voting for deputy speaker. A dispute has erupted between MPs over whether the majority must be a majority of the chamber or a majority of non-blank votes.

In Saida and in the Bekaa, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanese celebrate the re-election of Nabih Berri, our local correspondents report. In Bednayel, in the Bekaa, supporters of the Amal Movement, carrying the party's green flags, are distributing pastries to passers-by.

Photo: Nabih Berri's supporters in Bednayel. (Credit: Sarah Abdallah/L'Orient Today)

Following Nabih Berri's re-election, gunfire rang out across the southern suburbs of Beirut and in other areas with a high concentration of Amal Movement supporters, despite the party leader specifically asking yesterday that people refrain from celebrating his win by shooting in the air.

Voting is now underway for the deputy speaker post. 

Nabih Berri has been re-elected speaker of Parliament by the minimum number of votes possible: 65 votes.  His victory comes with the lowest vote tally of his three-decade career as Parliament speaker. 

A tense verbal exchange pits the outgoing Parliament speaker against MPs Samy Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb party, and Paula Yacoubian, over a dispute concerning whether or not ballots must be read aloud while being counted. 

As the votes are eventually read out, ballots not cast for Nabih Berri are found to carry a variety of slogans and calls, including: "justice for the Beirut port blast," "justice for Lokman Slim," "justice for raped women," "justice for the injured by the Parliament guards during the revolution," "justice for the victims of the Parliament guards," "justice for Lebanon," "justice for the rise of the nation," "justice for those who lost their eyes from rubber bullets"  and "the Strong Republic." 

Imam Musa Sadr, who disappeared in Libya in 1978, and Lokman Slim, an activist who was assassinated in South Lebanon last year, both had votes cast specifically for them.

There were also 23 blank ballots cast. 

With all 128 MPs in attendance, the first round of voting is underway to elect a Parliament speaker.

Photo: Lebanon's newly elected Parliament convenes for the first time to elect a speaker and deputy speaker, in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 31, 2022. (Credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

Nabih Berri is assured of his re-election for a seventh consecutive term as speaker since 1992, in the absence of competition. But it remains to be seen whether the FPM MPs will vote for him, against the backdrop of historical animosity between President Michel Aoun, his son-in-law and leader of the FPM, Gebran Bassil, and the Parliament speaker. However, a meeting between the latter and MP Elias Bou Saab (FPM/Metn), took place in Ain al-Tineh on Saturday, leading to widespread belief that an agreement had been reached behind the scenes between the two parties in order to ensure FPM votes go to the head of the legislature. This speculation was however vehemently denied by some FPM members.

All eyes will also be on the newly elected opposition MPs, whose position, on Monday evening, remained unclear regarding what they would write on their ballots for both the speaker and deputy speaker. While one of them mentioned the possibility that their vote for deputy speaker would go to MP Melhem Khalaf, the latter has previously denied seeking this position.

Kataeb MPs meanwhile said they were waiting to see what the opposition parties would do before making any decision. The Lebanese Forces will vote for MP Ghassan Skaff.

Photo: Outgoing Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. (Credit: Lebanese Parliament Flickr account)

According to Article 44 of the Lebanese constitution, Parliament should meet under the presidency of the oldest MP, with the two youngest MPs serving as secretaries, each time a new chamber is elected.

A secret ballot is then carried to elect a new speaker and deputy speaker. In the first and second round of voting, an absolute majority is needed to secure election to each post. 

If no absolute majority is achieved and voting goes to a third ballot, a relative majority is enough to win election.

If candidates for each post receive an equal number of votes, the elder candidate is deemed elected.

At times during the past week, Nabih Berri's re-election as speaker has been far from certain. Read our columnist Mounir Rabih's analysis of developments: "The week that Nabih Berri’s throne shook"

The vote today will take place at the Parliament building in Nejmeh Square, Downtown Beirut. Today marks the first time Parliament has met at this location since Feb. 11, 2020. On that day, during a marathon eight-hour session, Hassan Diab's government eventually retained the confidence of the gathered MPs , despite strong popular opposition in the surrounding streets, which was dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. In February 2020, Lebanon had been sinking for eight months into an unprecedented economic crisis, and the popular uprising of Oct. 17, 2019 was already running out of steam. Two months after the protest movement's outbreak, and in the face of almost daily demonstrations around the Parliament building, the authorities had installed concrete walls, metal barriers and barbed wire in order to block all access to the building.

A few days after the Feb. 11, 2020, session, Lebanon confirmed its first case of COVID-19. Weeks later the country entered lockdown. It was not until April 21, 2020,  that Parliament resumed meeting, but this time at the more spacious, and therefore authorities said safer, UNESCO Palace in Beirut. The last meeting of the chamber was held on April 28 at UNESCO Palace.

Get to know Lebanon's new parliamentarians: "Cynthia Zarazir, a 'happy ending' for a repentant FPM sympathizer"

Caretaker Industry Minister and MP George Bouchikian has told VDL radio that the "Armenian Representatives" bloc will vote to re-elect Nabih Berri as Parliament Speaker and for MP Elias Bou Saab (FPM/Metn) for the position of deputy speaker at today's Parliament session. 

Get to know Lebanon's new MPs: Yassin Yassin: The 'controversial' son of a small West-Bekaa village

Unlike the majority of their colleagues who arrived at Nejmeh Square in large vehicles, the MPs from 2019 protest movement arrived on foot, accompanied by several hundred people who had gathered at 9 a.m. in front of the Beirut port to show them their support.

Photo: Demonstrators and relatives of victims of the Aug. 4, 2020 port explosion gather around MPs from the protest movement in front of the Beirut Port. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

The MPs from the protest movement arrived at Nejmeh Square to the sound of revolutionary songs and surrounded by a few hundred demonstrators, after a march which started at the Port of Beirut and a brief stop on Martyrs' Square.

Photo: The 13 MPs from the protest movement arrive at Nejmeh Square. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

Some 74 MPs have already arrived to attend the session, which is scheduled to commence at 11 a.m., our reporter in Nejmeh Square says.

Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the first session of Lebanon's newly elected Parliament. Join us here to follow the developments as MPs convene at 11 a.m. to elect a Parliament speaker along with a deputy speaker and Parliament bureau.

Photo: Press gather in Nejmeh Square on Tuesday morning. (Credit: Kabalan Farah/L'Orient Today)