Berri Schedules Presidential Vote Session for Monday

Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday scheduled a presidential election session for Monday, August 8.

“Berri has called on the parliament to convene on Monday, August 8 at 12:00 pm to elect a president,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The speaker's call comes after three days of national dialogue meetings which failed to achieve any progress regarding the stalled presidential elections. The conferees have instead focused their discussions on the issue of creating a Senate and implementing administrative decentralization, which both were stipulated by the 1989 Taef Accord.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse his longtime Christian foe Aoun for the presidency after their two parties reached a political rapprochement agreement following months of deliberations.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.