BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called on Lebanon’s political factions not to waste any more time in electing a new president and urged them to end the more than two-year power vacuum.

In an interview with the Lebanese daily Al-Joumhouria published Wednesday, Berri said the “opportunity is still open” for political sides to elect a new head of state, refusing to link the situation in Syria with the political deadlock in Lebanon.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Sleiman ended in May 2014.

“All the talk linking Lebanon to the regional developments, and especially what is going on in Syria...is not realistic, and I am sure the Lebanese can locate a solution within their reach,” he said.

Berri said that the Cabinet will continue to hold meetings, but refused to comment on the recent government boycott by the Free Patriotic Movement.

Berri, who is also the leader of the Amal Movement, will be giving a speech later Wednesday at a memorial service marking the 38th anniversary of the disappearance of the movement’s founder Imam Musa Sadr and his comrades Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine.

He is expected to touch on the current political situation, among other issues.