Cornered, Berri tries to relaunch his initiative

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri broke his silence on Sunday. In the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, he responded to the statement the ambassadors of the five-nation group involved in the Lebanese dossier (US, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar) issued on Thursday.

The statement ruled out any extensive dialogue (as Berri has been seeking), referring instead expressly to “limited consultations,” but Berri did not declare defeat.

Once again, he used what he called his “own jurisprudence” to interpret the quintet’s position as he saw fit. Far from feeling targeted by the text, he wants people to believe that the quintet is aligned with his discourse, centered on “dialogue and consultations.”

He therefore reiterated his willingness to hold open electoral sessions with successive rounds of voting “if they [the opposition parties] agree to take part in the dialogue.”

Berri thus revisited the initiative he proposed in August 2023, which called for a week-long dialogue followed by “open sessions” with successive rounds of voting.

With these remarks, Berri believes he can hit two birds with one stone: Keeping an extensive dialogue on the table and, more importantly, clearing himself and Hezbollah of accusations of obstructing the presidential election and sending the ball back to the opposition’s court.

That is particularly true since the quintet committee stepped up its discourse against those responsible for the deadlock. This is because Berri is aware that his critic’s position has not changed. They continue to oppose an extensive dialogue and agree to the scope and time-limited consultations as the group of five nations has sought.

“The quintet has adopted our approach, which is based on the call I made over a year ago for dialogue and consultation without preconditions, hoping to get the presidential elections out of the vicious circle,” Berri told the Saudi newspaper. He stressed “the importance of holding successive sessions, with four or five rounds of voting each.”

According to him, a session could be convened every 24 hours, until Parliament succeeds in electing a president. But that’s not all, as he continues to make such sessions conditional on holding a broad dialogue, in what seems like a bid to establish himself as the driving force behind the end of the impasse.

“The most important question is whether they [the opposition parties] want dialogue or consultations.” He said.

Rai favors 'a president who can sit at the negotiation table'

On the other hand, the anti-Hezbollah camp is adamant that the future president should be elected per the constitutional provisions, and not according to practices that violate the Basic Law.

“We refuse that precedents be set for holding the presidential election,” Charles Jabbour, spokesman for the Lebanese Forces (LF), told L’Orient-Le Jour. “The dialogue table is a non-constitutional practice. If some people want to apply it before [electing a president], the same should go for electing a parliament speaker and appointing a prime minister-designate to form the cabinet,” he said.

“On the other hand, we are in favor of the consultations as mentioned in the quintet committee’s statement,” he said.

“[This is especially true] because these consultations, limited in time and scope, enabled parliament to extend Army Chief Joseph Aoun’s term of office (Dec. 15, 2023), and to make a recommendation regarding Syrian migrants and refugees,” he said.

Ditto for the Renewal bloc, including MPs Michel Moawad, Adib Abdelmassih, Ashraf Rifi and Fouad Makhzoumi. “Nabih Berri is trying to push us into a corner. But he won’t drag us into his game. Our position is clear: No to dialogue, yes to consultation as defined by the five nations group,” said MP Ashraf Rifi.

As for the Kataeb, it is above all Berri’s unspoken words that concern them. “The parliament speaker has not expressed his clear commitment to convene open sessions regardless of the outcome of the dialogue. When he does, his offer can be discussed,” a senior source in the party told L’Orient-Le Jour.

But the light is not going to break any time soon, despite the quintet’s calls to urgently elect a president by the end of the month “to ensure that Lebanon has a seat at the table in regional discussions and to conclude a future diplomatic deal on Lebanon’s southern border.”

Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai raised this point in his Sunday homily. He made a parting shot against the Hezbollah camp, which is accused of blocking the presidential election and above all, of correlating it to the ongoing war in Gaza, contrary to what the quintet committee is calling for.

He said “There must be a president who can sit at the negotiation table” for a regional solution. “There is no justifiable reason not to elect a president of the republic,” he added.

This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translated by Joelle El Khoury.