The March 8 camp held talks on Wednesday at Speaker Nabih Berri's residence at Ain el-Tineh in order to coordinate their stances ahead of the binding parliamentary consultations later this week.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh said after the talks: “We will head to the consultations with a united position over a new prime minister-designate.”

Sharp differences loomed to the surface among the March 8 coalition's members over the thorny crises confronting the country as the main factions of the coalition are expected to hold talks on Wednesday to resolve the disputes.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Tuesday, March 8 Christians and Hizbullah representatives failed during a meeting they held the day before to reach common ground on the nature of the new cabinet and the new electoral law.

A meeting was held on Monday between the March 8 alliance Christians and a delegation from Hizbullah at the residence of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun in Rabieh.

The meeting included Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, ex-Minister Youssef Saade, FPM caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, Tashnag Party MP Hagop Pakradonian, political aide of the Hizbullah chief Hussein Khalil and Hizbullah Liaison and Coordination Officer Wafiq Safa.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora on Saturday met with President Michel Suleiman before traveling to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Saniora held talks with Suleiman at Baabda palace on Saturday morning. He then traveled to Riyadh at the head of a delegation from al-Mustaqbal movement.

Speaker Nabih Berri was discharged from American University of Beirut Medical Center after undergoing a minor surgery to remove a kidney stone, the hospital said Saturday.

“Speaker Berri has been admitted to the AUBMC and (ex-health minister) Dr. Mohammed Jawad Khalife conducted the surgery," the hospital said .

Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday underwent a “successful surgery” at the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Hamra.

“Speaker Berri has been admitted to the American University of Beirut Medical Center and (ex-health minister) Dr. Mohammed Jawad Khalife is conducting an urgent surgery on him," al-Jadeed television reported.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said the name of the premier-designate hinges on the type and shape of the new government.

“If it is a cabinet (tasked) with holding the elections, then the prime minister-designate would have certain specifications,” Berri told several local dailies published Friday.

United States Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly expressed on Thursday her country's support for efforts to form a new government in Lebanon.

She said after holding separate talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati: “The process to form a new government is, and must be, a Lebanese one.”

A Hizbullah delegation held talks on Wednesday with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on the latest developments in Lebanon, most notably the parliamentary electoral law.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's political aide Hussein Khalil said after the meeting: “We hope that the Orthodox Gathering draft law will be the first article of the agenda of the next parliament session.”

Lawmakers representing the March 8 alliance called on Wednesday on Speaker Nabih Berri to hold a parliamentary session for the approval of the so-called Orthodox Gathering draft-law.

“The March 8 parliamentary blocs insist on holding the elections on time based on a law other than the 1960 law,” Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan told reporters at the parliament in Beirut's Nijmeh Square.