Silence on Berri-Jumblat Presidential Initiative to 'Guarantee its Success'

Speaker Nabih Berri has stayed mum on efforts he is exerting along with Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat to resolve the presidential deadlock.

Local newspapers quoted Berri as saying on Monday that he “cannot talk about any possible progress to guarantee the success of the work we are doing.”

He said, however, that the efforts exerted by him and Jumblat are aimed at reaching a “settlement on the presidency.”

Lebanon has been without a head of state since May when President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended amid the failure of the rival MPs to find a successor.

Asked by his visitors about a draft-law proposed by the Change and Reform bloc to make a constitutional amendment to have direct presidential elections, Berri said: “This suggestion can only be made during the ordinary legislative session.”

“The parliament is now in an extraordinary round,” he said.

The Change and Reform proposal was made on Thursday. MP Ibrahim Kanaan defended it by claiming that the amendment is constitutional and is aimed at boosting the role of Christians in governing the state's affairs.

Parliament's first ordinary session starts on the first Tuesday after March 15 while the second begins on the first Tuesday after October 15.

“This means that the proposal cannot be discussed before October 15,” Berri said.

G.K.

H.K.