Legislative Session Postponed Despite Extensive Efforts to Resolve Disputes

A two-day parliamentary session was postponed for the sixth time on Wednesday over lack of quorum amid sharp rift between the March 14 alliance and Speaker Nabih Berri on its constitutionality.

The session was postponed to November 20.

The controversial legislative session that Speaker Nabih Berri called for 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 Aoun's bloc.

Miqati and the March 14 alliance argue that the parliament can only discuss urgent items amid a resigned cabinet.

Despite extensive efforts to resolve the dispute, head of al-Mustaqbal Parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora told reporters after talks with Berri, on the sidelines of a session the day before set to elect the parliament's bureau committee members and the parliamentary committees members, that Wednesday's session is “unconstitutional.”

However, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel 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.