Speaker Nabih Berri said the parliamentary administrative and justice committee should learn from the experience of the electoral subcommittee to avoid the same problems that led to the failure to agree on a draft vote law.

In remarks to several local dailies published on Wednesday, Berri said the committee should avoid the mistakes that were made in the past by the subcommittee that was tasked with agreeing on an electoral law.

Speaker Nabih Berri has rejected accusations by al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora that he was seeking to impose the rule of the parliament on the rest of top institutions in Lebanon, saying he would not allow anyone to paralyze the functions of the legislature.

“It is not natural and it is unacceptable for the legislative authority to become the captive of the mood of the prime minister no matter who he is,” Berri told As Safir newspaper published on Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the different Lebanese factions reject sliding into a new civil war despite the fighting that has rattled the northern city of Tripoli in the past week.

In remarks to several local newspapers published on Monday, Berri said: “The different Lebanese (parties) have a conviction not to return to war and repeat the black and deadly experiences that all of them have witnessed despite some separate incidents.”

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.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has advocated the election of a president away from foreign intervention and advised Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to launch a new round of consultations with parliamentary blocs.

“There should always be a first time. Currently there are a lot of crises and no one's thinking about us. So we should elect the president internally,” Aoun told al-Akhbar daily in an interview published on Thursday.

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.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has criticized al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, describing its leader MP Fouad Saniora's stance from a two-day parliamentary session on Wednesday as “not encouraging.”

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, Jumblat said: “Saniora's stance from the session is negative and not encouraging.”

Speaker Nabih Berri rejected on Wednesday to budge an inch on his call for a two-day parliamentary session, holding on to the agenda of the session and rejecting any pressure exerted on him to modify it.

“I presume that the legal quorum will be provided during Wednesday’s session after the Free Patriotic Movement's positive stance,” Berri said in an Interview with As Safir newspaper.

Discussions over a two-day parliamentary session reached a dead-end on Tuesday amid a sharp row over its constitutionality as al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc insisted on boycotting it if Speaker Nabih Berri failed to modify its agenda.

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

The controversial parliamentary session set to convene on Tuesday will not face the fate of its predecessors after several parliamentary blocs and MPs are expected to attend it, local newspapers pointed out.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Monday, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, the staunch opponent to Speaker Nabih Berri's calls to hold a session, is expected to attend Tuesday's session to participate in electing the parliamentary committees.