Nabih Berri calls for a new session next Thursday

For the eighth time, the Lebanese parliament fails to elect a president

The eighth parliamentary session was held under the chairmanship of Nabih Berri.

EPA

Yesterday, the Lebanese parliament failed to elect a new president for the republic, despite the position being vacant for a month, for the eighth time, because no candidate could obtain two-thirds of the votes of the deputies.

Yesterday, the eighth parliamentary session was held to elect a president in Lebanon, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The session was held after the completion of the quorum, which requires the presence of 86 deputies out of the total number of deputies in the Council, which is 128 deputies.

Representative Michel Moawad, who is supported by the Lebanese Forces led by Samir Geagea, and other blocs, including that of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, got 37 votes, compared to 52 blank papers, four votes for Issam Khalifa and four canceled papers.

Major blocs, including Hezbollah, oppose Moawad, describing him as a "challenging" candidate, calling for agreement in advance on a candidate before going to parliament to elect him.

At the outset of the session, the representative of the Lebanese Forces party, Antoine Habshi, criticized the repetition of the same scenario in every election session, which "puts Parliament outside its role."

And Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called for “inviting the heads of blocs and representatives to exercise their duties, and for us to remain inside parliament to implement the constitution,” calling for a new session to be held next Thursday.

The system of settlements and quotas, which exists between political and sectarian forces, usually delays important decisions, including the formation of the government or the election of a president.

In the first round of voting, a candidate needs a two-thirds majority, or 86 votes, to win.

The required majority, if a second session takes place, becomes 65 votes, out of 128 being the number of members of Parliament.

Like every week, the first session was held with the presence of a two-thirds majority, before deputies withdrew to overthrow the quorum in the second session, which is a tactic followed by Hezbollah and its allies.

No political party has a parliamentary majority to impose its candidate.

The presidential candidate needs to obtain the votes of two-thirds of the House of Representatives in the first round of voting.

Seven previous parliamentary sessions were held to elect a president, the last of which was last Thursday, November 24, and all of them failed.

It is noteworthy that the term of former President Michel Aoun ended on the 31st of last October, and Lebanon entered a stage of presidential vacancy.

Parliament's failure to elect a president so far indicates that the electoral process may take a long time, in a country where constitutional deadlines are rarely respected.

The presidential vacuum coincides with the existence of a caretaker government that is unable to take necessary decisions, and at a time when Lebanon has witnessed, since 2019, an economic collapse that the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world since 1850.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news