ANSD : Lebanon: Berri re-elected speaker; Hariri favorite to form govt

FRI 19 - 4 - 2024

Date: May 24, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

Lebanon: Berri re-elected speaker; Hariri favorite to form govt

_{Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star}
BEIRUT: The smooth re-election Wednesday of Nabih Berri as Parliament speaker for a sixth consecutive four-year term unchallenged has set the stage for quick binding consultations with parliamentary blocs on designating a prime minster to form a new government, following general elections earlier this month.

Shortly after the newly elected 128-member Parliament voted 98 in favor of Berri, with 29 blank ballots and one vote that was annulled, President Michel Aoun scheduled meetings with all parliamentary blocs and independent members of Parliament for Thursday for consultations on naming a prime minister.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri has emerged as the overwhelming favorite for a third term, judging by statements issued by various blocs this week supporting his return to the premiership.

A statement from Baabda Palace set the one-day consultations from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a lunch break.

Despite calls from Aoun, Berri and Hariri for the swift formation of a new Cabinet to meet the challenges facing the country, many politicians fear that forming government could be delayed for months by horse-trading and haggling by rival factions seeking to capture ministerial portfolios.

In a speech during an iftar he hosted at Baabda Palace Wednesday night for the country’s top political and religious leaders, also attended by Berri and Hariri, Aoun pleaded with all parties to facilitate the formation of a national unity government as soon as possible.

The president also called for national unity in the battle against rampant corruption in Lebanon’s state institutions.

“The most important issue is the deteriorating economic situation due to crises that have been going on for decades, in addition to the consequences of the world economic crisis and neighboring countries’ wars,” Aoun said. “We have begun working on an economic plan that defines points of weakness and strength and sets out a vision for tackling the current problems.”

“The next step is the formation of a national unity government capable of confronting challenges, a government that can deal with the regional and international situation, while maintaining internal stability,” Aoun said.

The president added that the next government must proceed with reforms, fight corruption, modernize the state administrations and carry out an economic plan.

“Everyone is called upon to facilitate the formation of the new government as soon as possible. The pressuring situation does not allow for wasting time. The criteria of the [Cabinet] formation are known and all we have to do is to implement them,” Aoun said.

The president called for the divisive and charged rhetoric – or “verbal violence” – that marked parliamentary elections to be put aside in favor of the “language of reason.”

“We have big challenges, both internal and external, ahead of us and we cannot face them except with our unity and solidarity,” he said.

Before the iftar, Aoun met with both Berri and Hariri.

Wednesday’s was the first Parliament session since legislative elections were held on May 6. It came day after the newly elected Parliament began its four-year mandate.

Berri’s re-election with 98 votes was eight votes more than the 2009 speakership election. Celebratory gunfire and firecrackers reverberated across west Beirut and the southern suburbs after Berri was approved.

MP Elie Ferzli from the Free Patriotic Movement’s Strong Lebanon bloc was elected deputy speaker with 80 votes against 32 votes for his rival, the Lebanese Forces’ Strong Republic bloc’s candidate MP Anis Nassar, with four votes for MP Nicholas Nahhas even though he did not announce his candidacy for the post. A ballot was found in the name of MP Paula Yacoubian and another in the name of Charles Malek and Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki. The latter two ballots were considered invalid.

Parliament also elected the six members of its secretariat, three of whom belong to the FPM’s Strong Lebanon bloc.

The 29 blank ballots in the speaker’s election were divided as follows: 14 for the LF’s MPs, 12 for the FPM’s Strong Lebanon bloc, with the remaining three cast by the three Kataeb Party MPs.

Shortly after his re-election, Berri, Ferzli and members of Parliament’s secretariat, paid a protocol visit to Aoun at Baabda Palace.

Aoun hugged Berri, congratulating him on his re-election, and the two leaders discussed the next stage, particularly the binding parliamentary consultations on naming a prime minister.

Aoun said he hoped the new Parliament’s term would be “productive in the field of legislation and supervision, to reflect the will of the Lebanese in seeing their constitutional institutions accompany their aspirations and fulfill their hopes in the march of advancement that Lebanon needs.”

Upon leaving Baabda Palace, Berri said he had agreed with Aoun to expedite parliamentary consultations on naming a prime minister.

After his re-election, Berri addressed lawmakers by thanking them six times, in reference to his sixth term.

He has served as Parliament speaker since 1992.

Berri, 80, who heads the Amal Movement, pledged to pass bills on major legislative issues, notably on the country’s potential oil and gas reserves, financial reforms, fighting corruption and administrative decentralization.

“The most important duty for Parliament is to protect the Constitution and coexistence and reject resettlement [of Palestinians],” Berri said.

“Parliament will also be a bulwark for our sovereign land, maritime and borders – a national response by the state, Army, people and resistance to Israel’s aggressions and violations of our border, airspace and territorial waters.” He proposed putting forward draft laws on establishing a sovereign wealth fund and national oil company.

In one unorthodox development during the session, first-time MP Paula Yacoubian disputed officials’ reading of her vote, after her ballot – on which she had written the name of Labaki, the film director who won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend – was announced as a blank vote.

Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk walked out of the session as the vote for deputy speaker began, in protest against Ferzli’s imminent election.

Machnouk, who voted for Berri, said in a statement later that he would not participate in “a session that will bring back to the post of deputy speaker one of the most important symbols of Syrian tutelage.”

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