BEIRUT: Parliament convenes Thursday to discuss crucial draft laws after a last-gasp compromise avoided the boycott of major Christian groups in the country over the session’s agenda.

The agreement came after intensified contacts which involved Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, head of the Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other figures.

The breakthrough came shortly after Hariri said in a statement Wednesday that his Future Movement would attend Thursday’s session to pass urgent financial draft laws “related to Lebanon’s financial and economic interest and its relationship with the international community.” However, he stressed the Future Movement’s commitment not to attend any other legislative sessions if it did not include an electoral law on its agenda.

Hariri also said that lawmakers of his bloc would vote in favor of a draft law allowing foreigners of Lebanese origins to get the Lebanese nationality in the formula reached by a parliamentary committee, a key demand of Christian parties.

Hariri urged all parties to attend the sessions “to preserve the nature of participation between all the country’s factions.”

Officials from the FPM and the LF have signaled earlier that their lawmakers would not attend the first legislative session to be held in more than a year, mainly because an electoral draft law, a thorny and contentious issue, was not included on the agenda.

Speaking to The Daily Star, sources from the LF and FPM said that under the agreement, Parliament will establish a core committee to draft an electoral law.

If its members fail to reach an agreement within a two-month deadline, the joint committees will vote on the various draft laws proposed and send one to Parliament’s General Secretariat. Whereas if they do agree on a draft law, the secretariat will meet to endorse it immediately.

The deal also stipulates that Parliament will pass a law to pay back the municipalities all the telecommunications revenues the state owes them from 1994 to the present, without deductions.

Parliament will vote on urgent draft laws, deemed essential for the state’s finances and loans, including the World Bank’s $600 million in soft loans. Draft laws that aim to keep Lebanon away from financial and banking penalties over issues such as money laundering and transborder cash movements are also high on the agenda.

The legislature will also vote on the nationality draft law.

The draft law was amended during a parliamentary meeting involving MPs from the LF, FPM, Kataeb, Future Movement and Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb.

Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan said different sides made a decision over amendments proposed by Future Movement MP Samir Jisr to the nationality bill, which would give the right to people of Lebanese origin who live outside the country to obtain Lebanese nationality.

The amendments made did not include one that would allow Lebanese women to pass their nationality to their family members, a major demand by women organizations.

Aoun and Geagea hailed the compromise as a victory.

“The Future bloc will not attend any legislative session [other than this week’s] if it did not include the electoral draft law on its agenda. Thus, we have now a parliamentary majority to pass a new electoral law,” Geagea said. “Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri saved the day through an understanding between us and the Future after the agreement between us and the Free Patriotic Movement.”

For his part, Aoun announced that the FPM would attend the session in a short news conference from Rabieh. “We will attend the session tomorrow to approve draft laws, particularly draft laws related to international agreements, loans, and other items on the agenda.” But Thursday’s session will still be boycotted by the Kataeb Party, which has repeatedly said that it would not attend Parliament until a new president is elected. “MPs have no right to do anything except elect a president. We will not participate and not accept any compromise to hold a legislative session [amid presidential vacuum,” Gemayel told a news conference.

He expressed regret that Parliament failed for the 31st time to elect a president Wednesday, with Berri setting a new session for Dec. 2.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that the legislative session would help protect the internal situation in Lebanon, praising efforts by Speaker Nabih Berri to hold the meeting. “I also salute all political factions, who once they make a decisive decision, they solve problems,” Salam said in reference to the agreement reached.

He made his remarks during a ceremony in Riyadh held in his honor by Lebanon’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Abdel-Sattar Issa.

Salam returned to Beirut after attending the South-American Arab summit. During his visit, he met Hariri and several Saudi and other officials.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called on politicians to reach a comprehensive settlement to end the political deadlock Lebanon has been facing, underlining the importance of passing a new electoral law.

“A national, all-inclusive settlement means one whereby all sides give and take,” Nasrallah said, speaking on the occasion of Hezbollah’s Martyrs’ Day.

“All of us must sit down and put all the files on the table and reach a national settlement over everything, from the presidency issue to the future Cabinet, and from Parliament to a new electoral law,” Nasrallah said. He stressed the issue of adopting a new elections law that he said was “vital” to the country’s future.