Saniora Says Communication Ongoing with Berri, Stresses Parliament Can't Convene
Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc ex-Prime Minister Fouad Saniora accused Hizbullah and the March 8 alliance of obstructing the legislative work.
“We won't stop communicating” with the rival parties, Saniora said in comments published in local newspapers.
He reiterated that the parliament can't convene amid a resigned government, saying that “attending a legislative session with a normal agenda isn't urgent.”
Saniora said that he discussed with Speaker Nabih Berri several matters during their meetings, despite the row over the legislative sessions.
“We agreed during one of our meetings to continue our meetings. We shouldn't stop communicating amid this current stage,” the ex-PM said.
The MP pointed out that legislative work should be under a cabinet capable of discussing the draft-laws, but amid a caretaker cabinet it loses its right to do so.
On Wednesday, a two-day parliamentary session was postponed for the sixth time over lack of quorum amid sharp rift between the March 14 alliance and Berri on its constitutionality.
The session was postponed to November 20.
The controversial legislative session is set to discuss 45 items on its agenda, the same session that has been boycotted for five times since July over differences on whether the parliament can convene amid a resigned government or not.
The previous sessions were boycotted by the March 14 coalition, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's bloc.
Miqati and the March 14 alliance argue that the parliament can only discuss urgent items amid a resigned cabinet.
Aoun's Change and Reform bloc agreed after its weekly meeting in Rabieh on Tuesday to reactivate the work of the parliament “as there are social priorities that need to be addressed.”
Aoun's bloc has boycotted previous calls by Berri to attend legislative sessions over the speaker's failure to include his bloc's items on the session's agenda.
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