A crucial Parliament session this week to pass urgent draft laws has plunged Lebanon into further political turmoil, threatening to lead to a realignment of alliances within the rival March 14 and March 8 camps, in addition to raising questions on the validity of the country’s sectarian-based ruling system which called for equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians.

The latest row pitting Speaker Nabih Berri against the country’s three leading Christian parties over the constitutionality of legislative sessions comes at a time when Lebanon has been left without a president for more than 17 months, the Cabinet has been unable to meet since Sept. 9 due to sharp differences among its ministers, and Parliament legislation has been paralyzed by the ongoing presidential vacuum.

With the executive and legislative branches of powers in complete disarray, the rift over the exclusion of an electoral draft law from the agenda of the Parliament sessions is bound to further deepen divisions among the Lebanese over the ruling formula that calls for equal Muslim-Christian partnership in the country’s decision-making process – as stipulated in the 1943 National Pact that led to independence from France.

So far, all signs indicate that the country is heading toward a serious stalemate as Berri on the one hand, and the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party on the other, refuse to budge on their unyielding stances concerning the two legislative sessions that the speaker has called for Thursday and Friday to endorse urgent draft laws, deemed essential for the state’s finances, and loans, including $600 million-worth from the World Bank’s.

However, an electoral draft law, which is at the heart of the current rift, was taken off the agenda mainly because there is no consensus among the rival factions on a specific proposal.

The FPM and the LF have linked their participation in any legislative session to putting an electoral draft law and a bill that would grant foreigners of Lebanese origin citizenship on the agenda. Berri has listed the citizenship draft law on the agenda.

The Kataeb Party has said that amid the 17-month presidential vacuum it will not attend any legislative session before the election of a president.

“If Thursday’s session was held in the absence of the three Christian parties, this will deal a setback to the concept of the National Pact’s requirements championed by Speaker Berri,” LF lawmaker Antoine Zahra told The Daily Star.

“Holding the sessions without the LF, the FPM and the Kataeb Party will undermine the National Pact’s prerequisites, and eventually open the door to an additional political stalemate,” he added.

In Zahra’s view, the dispute over the exclusion of an electoral draft law from the agenda of the Parliament session would not lead to any changes in the current alliances within the March 8 and March 14 parties. “It will only cast a shadow of lack of confidence,” he said.

MP Ammar Houri from the Future Movement said his bloc would attend the Parliament sessions and was making contacts to ensure a wider of attendance of MPs.

“Intensive contacts are being made with Speaker Berri in an attempt to find a solution to the problem of Christian participation in the sessions,” Houri told The Daily Star.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam voiced support for the Parliament sessions to approve draft laws in line with what lawmakers dubbed “legislation of necessity” during the presidential vacuum.

“The country needs the reactivation of Parliament’s and the Cabinet’s work in order to serve the citizens’ vital interests away from political differences that have so far obstructed the election of a president,” Salam told reporters on a plane as he flew to Saudi Arabia Tuesday to attend the fourth Summit of South American-Arab Countries.

Asked to comment on the ongoing row over the legislative sessions and the Christian parties’ possible boycott of the sessions, Salam said: “It’s part of the ongoing debate in the country on several matters amid the presidential vacuum and the inability to elect a president.”

Berri’s indication that he is determined to proceed with the legislative sessions, even if they are boycotted by the three Christian parties, has sent shock waves among the top Christian leaders, chiefly FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, who has already launched a campaign to regain Christian rights in the public administration.

In a rare show of unity, the FPM, LF and the Kataeb Party have teamed up in warning against convening Parliament without their participation, saying such a move would run counter to the National Pact’s conditions on Muslim-Christian partnership.

The warning was relayed to Berri by LF lawmaker George Adwan and FPM lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan during their meeting with him Monday.

“A Parliament session without the LF and the FPM cannot be covered with a substitute. The FPM, the LF and the Kataeb are the ones that can secure the National Pact’s requirements,” Adwan said following a meeting with Berri.

LF chief Samir Geagea, who has called for an electoral law to be included on the agenda of the upcoming legislative sessions, warned Tuesday of the consequences of ignoring the National Pact’s terms on partnership.

“The issue of the National Pact’s requirements is very sensitive. Any attempt to tamper with the National Pact’s requirements means tampering with the Taif Accord,” Geagea said after meeting at his residence in Maarab with a delegation from the Banks’ Association, which underlined to him the need for Parliament to pass the financial draft laws and loans.

The row over the legislative sessions has reflected divergent stances among allies within the March 14 and March 8 blocs.

While Aoun warned Tuesday against Parliament legislation without the presence of Christian parties, Hezbollah, which is linked with the FPM in the March 8 political alliance, called on all parties to attend the legislative sessions.

Similarly, the LF, which is aligned with the Future Movement in the March 14 coalition, opposes a legislative session if an electoral law is not put on the agenda, while the Future bloc has called for participating in this week’s sessions.