Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri presides over a parliamentary session dedicated to the election of a new president. (Credit: Lebanese Parliament)
Under normal circumstances, Lebanon celebrates its Independence Day on Nov. 22, with a military parade, attended by the country’s top three political figures: the president, the Parliament speaker and the prime minister, who sit side by side to watch the procession.This year, however, things were different.The military parade was canceled. Michel Aoun’s term as president ended on Oct. 31. Najib Mikati is at the head of a caretaker government managing day-to-day affairs. The only apparent constant is Nabih Berri at the head of the legislature. This new situation, however, gives the speaker a wide margin of maneuver, not only within his own backyard, i.e., Parliament, but also at the level of the general political landscape, in which he now seems to reign supreme.Most likely delighted to see Aoun — who has tried to put spokes in Berri’s...
Under normal circumstances, Lebanon celebrates its Independence Day on Nov. 22, with a military parade, attended by the country’s top three political figures: the president, the Parliament speaker and the prime minister, who sit side by side to watch the procession.This year, however, things were different.The military parade was canceled. Michel Aoun’s term as president ended on Oct. 31. Najib Mikati is at the head of a caretaker government managing day-to-day affairs. The only apparent constant is Nabih Berri at the head of the legislature. This new situation, however, gives the speaker a wide margin of maneuver, not only within his own backyard, i.e., Parliament, but also at the level of the general political landscape, in which he now seems to reign supreme.Most likely delighted to see Aoun — who has tried to put spokes in...