Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry at the podium during the commemoration of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr in Beirut, Aug. 31, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Le Jour)
For the first time since Sept. 29, 2022, when Lebanon began its presidential election process, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri proposed a compromise to his opponents. He would agree to hold open electoral sessions in Parliament, only if they are preceded by an extensive seven-day dialogue gathering the leaders of the different parliamentary blocs..
Berri’s commitment comes ahead of the anticipated September return of French special envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian, whose efforts are also expected to lead to broader political consultations in a bid to elect a new president almost a year after Michel Aoun’s six-year term ended in October 2022.
Berri chose the 45th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, founder of the Amal Movement (currently chaired by the speaker), which has become an annual political event, to launch this “last call” for dialogue on the presidential election — after all previous calls were rejected by the opposition.
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“I call on the leaders and representatives of the parliamentary blocs to take part in a dialogue in Parliament in September, for a period not exceeding seven days, after which open sessions would be held ... to elect a president,” Berri told a crowd of supporters gathered in Jnah, a southern suburb of Beirut on Thursday — a stronghold of the Amal Movement and its long-standing partner Hezbollah.
The head of the legislature is once again ready to play his traditional role as the sponsor of the national dialogue, an approach he had not endorsed since declaring his support for Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh’s candidacy for the presidency.
Notably, Berri reaffirmed the dialogue option on Thursday, with no mention of Frangieh.
The opposition in the firing line
This first-ever public commitment to holding open sessions dedicated to the election of a new president comes at a time when the opposition is accusing the speaker and Hezbollah of forcing a lack of quorum, as has been the case during the 12 electoral sessions that have been held so far. Berri is also accused of refraining from convening parliament for exclusively electoral sessions as stipulated in Article 75 of the constitution.
While the reactions from the various political stakeholders to his new initiative have yet to emerge, it’s important to note that a significant portion of the opposition remains reluctant to engage in dialogue with Hezbollah and its allies regarding the presidential election.
Despite this, Berri has no intention of remaining passive. He made it clear that he would persist in convening Parliament for legislative sessions, labeling them as “legislation of necessity.” This concept was introduced by Berri himself to justify the holding of parliamentary sessions during a presidential vacancy.
“The presidential election will not be held by vetoing some candidates or imposing others, nor by paralyzing the executive branch — which should handle current affairs in the strictest sense of the term — and legislative powers,” Berri said, in a dig at the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), whose ministers have been boycotting government sessions since December, but also at the opposition.
“Should the proposed law legalizing sexual deviance have been included on the agenda of the last legislative session for everyone to show up?” Berri said, referring firstly to the parliamentary meeting scheduled for Aug. 17, which ended up falling through because of the boycott by the opposition Christian parties and the FPM.
Berri was also alluding to the bill presented by the opposition and FPM MPs to abolish article 534 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes any so-called “unnatural” relations.
On another note, Berri welcomed the agreement reached in Beijing in March to restore normal relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In this context, he praised China’s efforts, expressing the hope that this agreement will be implemented and that its repercussions will be felt throughout the region.
Concurrently, Berri welcomed “the return of Syria” (not Bashar al-Assad’s regime) to the Arab fold in the wake of the Beijing agreement. He also called for a normalization of relations between Beirut and Damascus in order to “preserve common interests” and discuss a number of issues, with Syrian refugees at the forefront.
