The Lebanese Parliament meets in Beirut. (Credit/AFP/File photo)
BEIRUT — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has set a meeting for the Parliament bureau next Monday at 1 p.m. to convene a legislative session, the state-run National News Agency reported.
No further details were given on the likely date for the legislative session or its agenda.
In the absence of a president, the call for such a session lies under the umbrella of "legislation of necessity," according to the head of Parliament, a concept that does not exist in the constitution, and a practice decried by Berri's critics.
In the absence of a head of state between 2014 and 2016, Parliament passed legislation that the speaker then considered unavoidable to ensure the minimum functioning of public services.
Lebanon has been without a president since the end of Michel Aoun's mandate on Oct. 31. Since then, 11 presidential election sessions have been held in Parliament without success due to a lack of political consensus.
The two main Christian political parties, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Lebanese Forces (LF), refuse to participate in parliamentary legislative sessions, accusing Berri of not respecting the constitution. Berri tried to convene a legislative session following the end of Aoun's mandate, but the session was scuppered by boycotts by the FPM and LF MPs.