The Lebanese Parliament meeting in Beirut. (Credit: AFP file)
BEIRUT — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has canceled a meeting of the Parliament bureau that was planned for next Monday to discuss organizing a controversial legislative session, a source at Parliament told L'Orient Today Thursday morning.
According to the source, who was not authorized to speak to the press, the meeting was canceled because the laws that were required to be approved before convening the session have not yet been approved by parliamentary committees. The source also said the laws include a capital control law, which Lebanese banks have demanded amid legal proceedings against them.
Also up for discussion by Parliament are upcoming municipal elections. The race is slated to take place this year, but no funding and no schedule have yet been decided — which is among Parliament's tasks.
Holding a parliamentary plenary session is controversial in the current presidential vacancy.
According to the constitution, in the absence of a president, Parliament becomes an electoral body must therefore focus solely on choosing the head of state.
However, during a previous presidential vacuum between 2014 and 2016, Parliament approved legislation that Berri then considered necessary 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), as well as independent and Forces of Change MPs, have refused to participate in parliamentary legislative sessions, accusing Berri of not respecting the constitution.
According to the source, who was not authorized to speak to the press, the meeting was canceled because the laws that were required to be approved...