Electing a president takes precedence over all other issues, Berri says

BEIRUT — "The priority is the election of a new president," Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said in remarks to Al-Joumhouriya published Tuesday, emphasizing that no issue takes precedence over this priority.

In the interview, Berri is also quoted as saying that "all files and issues are postponed until after [the election of a president]."

"We must break the cycle of blockage and go straight to an agreement over a president," Berri continued.

Berri's party Amal, alongside its ally Hezbollah, backs Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh as its preferred presidential candidate. Hezbollah has repeatedly called for a dialogue around Frangieh's candidacy.

In remarks published by Al-Joumhouriya on Monday, Berri said that he would not set a new parliamentary election session date unless "agreement on a candidate is reached between the country's political parties."

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term in office ended on Oct. 31. The Lebanese Parliament has held 12 failed parliamentary sessions to elect a new president.

At the most recent session, on June 14, IMF Director Jihad Azour got 59 votes against Hezbollah-backed Frangieh's 51 votes in the first round of voting. As had happened at previous sessions, before a second round of voting could occur, Hezbollah and Amal Movement left the Parliament, provoking a loss of quorum.

A presidential candidate needs a two-thirds majority of votes in Lebanon's 128-member Parliament in order to be elected president in the first round; in subsequent rounds of voting, a candidate needs only garner a simple majority to be elected. However, at each new electoral session, Berri restarts with a first-round vote — a decision several legal experts consider a violation of the constitution.

Amid the presidential vacuum, Berri has held several legislative sessions despite a boycott of these sessions by Christian parties and some independent MPs on the grounds that such sessions go beyond Parliament's mandate in the absence of a president. These parties and MPs point to the Lebanese Constitution, which mandates that Parliament act solely as an electoral college until a new head of state is elected.

Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil has reopened channels of dialogue with Hezbollah after months of strained relations due to disagreement over Hezbollah's support for Frangieh. Bassil has indicated that he will use negotiations with Hezbollah to advance his party's demands for decentralization and a state asset fund.

Asked in the Al-Joumhouriya interview about his opinion on expanded decentralization, Berri said, "I agree on everything stipulated in the Constitution and [the Taif Agreement]."

Berri also said he is "open to the idea of developing the Taif Agreement, but this development should not be done unilaterally but rather through discussion, dialogue, consensus and understanding, which means that dialogue is the basis first and foremost."