BEIRUT: Parliament will convene next week to discuss a 47-item agenda but will not be going over the electoral law or the 2017 draft state budget, Deputy Speaker Farid Makari said Thursday.

Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun concluded fruitful visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, saying that he sought to distance Lebanon from regional conflicts.

“Of course the electoral law is not on the agenda but we hope ... that there would be an agreement in the coming times for a new law,” Makari told reporters. “Let us be clear in this regard ... if we want to hold elections on time there has to be a law based on a majoritarian [system], I am not saying the ’60s law, but if the law includes proportionality then we might have a technical delay.”

Makari added that the budget will be decided on soon, but not in the upcoming sessions. Lebanon has been without a state budget that would regulate spending since the end of Syrian tutelage in 2005.

“There are financial projects on the agenda. As for the budget ... Speaker Nabih Berri has told us that Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil has raised the budget proposal to the Cabinet,” Makari said. “There will be consecutive [Cabinet] meetings to endorse it, then it will be referred to Parliament.”

The decision to hold a legislative session comes after the president inked a decree to open an extraordinary parliamentary session – between Jan. 9 and March 20 – to discuss urgent draft laws, including the 2017 draft state budget.

Political powers remain at odds as to which parliamentary electoral law would govern upcoming elections scheduled for the coming May.

The Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah favor a proportional voting system, while the Future Movement, the Lebanese forces, the Amal Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party proposed laws that would include elements of proportional and majoritarian systems.

FPM expressed readiness to endorse a hybrid law.

The Change and Reform bloc, following their weekly meeting, called for the inclusion of the 2017 budget and parliamentary voting law in the expected legislative session.

“The bloc rejects any attempts to take us back to the 1960 law or unlimited extension,” FPM’s general secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan said in a televised statement. “The two most important items are the budget and the electoral law and we request that they be on the schedule of next legislative session.”

LF chief Samir Geagea rejected postponing elections, yet said that he would not oppose a technical extension whereby elections would only be delayed until September rather than an entire year.

“No one has proposed a one-year postponement. If it happens, I will oppose it,” he told Al-Akhbar newspaper Thursday.

He added that any delay in elections should be conditional upon endorsing a new electoral law and setting a new date for elections.

The LF chief reiterated Aoun’s keenness to conduct the ballots in a timely manner.

“Extensive talks to discuss all the proposed draft laws are taking place. We will have to wait until the end of the month to see which draft law will be endorsed, whether an amended [1960 system] or the proposed ... draft law that we can all agree on and which garners the majority [of votes],” he said adding that he believed that the PSP would endorse a new electoral law as long as “it guarantees the interests of all [factions].”

Geagea also added that he would not oppose a meeting with rival Hezbollah. “But [currently Speaker Nabih] Berri is negotiating on their [Hezbollah’s] behalf.”

Parliament has so far extended its own mandate twice, prompting the ire of the electorate.

Separately, Aoun arrived back in Beirut after meeting with Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani Wednesday and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Monday.

During an interview with Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV, Aoun said that he rejected the use of arms by any local groups, adding that certain factions’ decision to participate in the conflict in Syria was done independent of the state.

“The decision by some Lebanese groups to take part in the Syrian conflict wasn’t the state’s decision,” he said. “[The presidency] compels me to not take part in any conflict, because [the president] represents all the Lebanese.”

Despite the overall positive and cordial atmosphere surrounding Aoun’s visit to the Gulf, key issues remain deadlocked.

“The Saudi grant to the Lebanese Army hasn’t been resolved yet,” Aoun told Qatar-based satellite news broadcaster Al-Jazeera in an interview aired Thursday.

Lebanon’s relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf countries deteriorated last February after Riyadh froze a $3 billion grant to buy arms from France for the benefit of the Army in addition to another $1 billion in grants that earmarked for security agencies.

The move came following diplomatic rows between Iran and Hezbollah on one side and the Gulf states on the other following their opposing positions in the Syrian civil war.

En route back to Beirut, Aoun said he was relieved the two meetings took place.

“The direct and indirect results [of the tour] will soon appear and they will be in favor of the countries and their people,” he said.

A statement issued by Aoun’s media office said that the president had sent a message to Sheikh Tamim thanking him for his hospitality.

“Talks [held in Doha] affirmed the [deep] ties between the two brotherly countries which will improve and progress,” Aoun’s message added.