Berri should not adjourn next Parliament session 'until new president is elected': Geagea

BEIRUT — Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri should schedule an 11th presidential electoral session and tell all political blocs in advance that he will not adjourn it "until a new president is elected." Geagea's comments come as Lebanon has been without a president since the departure of Michel Aoun on Oct. 31.

In a series of tweets, Geagea said that "instead of folkloric sessions in which destiny, results and ending are known in advance, the parliament speaker, upon scheduling the eleventh presidential election [parliamentary] session should tell all the parliamentary blocs in advance that he will not close the session." 

Geagea also said that Berri should tell these blocs "that they are asked to remain in Parliament and have discussions between the consecutive parliamentary sessions, and that he will keep the sessions open not only between two rounds [of elections], but also for days … until a new president is elected." 

"This is how serious calls for election sessions should be sent, and how it would be possible to elect a president in a few hours or days, not by calling for dialogue," Geagea added, in a nod to the repeated calls for dialogue by Berri and the Hezbollah.

Ten parliamentary sessions have been convened to elect a president since the election period opened in September, but with no success. Hezbollah and its allies the Free Patriotic Movement and Amal have been mostly voting blank during the sessions while the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb and other independent MPs have voted for Zgharta MP Michel Moawad. 

An 11th session has not yet been officially called by Berri after a hiatus for the holiday season, but multiple media outlets reported that the next parliamentary meeting should take place next Thursday.

For the first time in its history, Lebanon is struggling with a double power vacuum at the executive level on top of an unprecedented economic crisis.