Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday that his parliamentary bloc will attend the legislative session to elect a new president, stressing the need to elect a “made in Lebanon head of state.”

Berri said in remarks published in local newspapers that the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc will attend all sessions set to elect a new president.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi backs the candidacy of former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud for the presidency, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, al-Rahi informed officials ahead of his trip to the Vatican last week that he adopts Baroud's candidacy based on surveys carried out by Bkirki.

Aley lawmaker Henri Helou has said that he was serious about his candidacy for the presidency, reiterating that Lebanon needs a centrist head of state.

In remarks to al-Akhbar daily published on Wednesday, Helou, who received 16 votes in the first round of the polls, said: “I do take my candidacy seriously.”

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday announced that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea “is the candidate who gained the support of all March 14 forces,” urging MPs to vote for him during the second round of the presidential elections that will be held on Wednesday.

“Participation in tomorrow's session is at the core of the democratic, parliamentary action seeking to preserve the Lebanese constitution and state institutions,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

The Judicial Police detained on Tuesday Beirut and Mount Lebanon's “biggest” drug dealer, who has over 50 arrest warrants against him.

"The Central Anti-Drug Bureau and the Anti-Drug Bureau in the South were able to arrest A. N., 31, in the Faraya region (in Mount Lebanon),” the Internal Security Forces said in a communique.

Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel revealed on Tuesday that the March 14 alliance might reach a stage in which it will start “considering alternatives in the presidential race.”

"There is an ongoing electoral game, but we will reach a point when we will have to consider alternatives for presidency,” Gemayel said in an interview with al-Manar television.

Riots erupted at Roumieh Prison on Tuesday and inmates set belongings on fire as the Internal Security Forces managed to successfully escort a 3-member gang out of the facility.

"The ISF is now in control of the juvenile ward in Roumieh and has referred the mutineering inmates to investigation," Future TV quoted security sources as saying.

A meeting was held on Tuesday in Paris between former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on the eve of the second round of the presidential elections.

The meeting comes as the French capital is witnessing a flurry of political activity as the Free Patriotic Movement is awaiting the support of al-Mustaqbal movement for FPM leader MP Michel Aoun's presidential bid.

The Change and Reform bloc on Tuesday hinted that the Free Patriotic Movement MPs will not attend the parliamentary session dedicated for electing a new president on Wednesday.

"We do not believe in vacuum (in the presidency), and it is not in our considerations,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the bloc's weekly meeting.

Deputy Speaker Farid Makari ruled out the possibility of an agreement between the Mustaqbal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement over the election of FPM chief MP Michel Aoun as president, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday.

He told the daily: “The only good thing to come out of such an agreement would be the elimination of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's role as a swing vote at parliament.”