Berri Kicks Off Consultations, to Call for Parliamentary Session in April

Speaker Nabih Berri held talks on Tuesday with several officials from March 8 and 14 as part of consultations on government crisis and the new electoral law amid reports saying that he will call for a parliamentary session on April 5.

Free Patriotic Movement caretaker Minister Jebran Bassil, Hizbullah leader's aide Hussein Khalil and former minister Youssef Saad held discussions with the speaker in presence of his assistant Ali Hassan Khalil in Ain el-Tineh.

MTV quoted Khalil as saying after the meeting that it tackled the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's cabinet and the dispute over the electoral law.

Last week, Miqati announced the resignation of his government after a fallout among ministers and called for national dialogue aimed at forming a new cabinet to rescue Lebanon.

According to OTV the meeting was to consult the parties that support the adoption of the Orthodox Gathering draft-law.

Berri held later separate talks with Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel and Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan.

“We are working on completely canceling the 1960 law and adopting a new electoral law as per the law and constitution,” Adwan told reporters in Ain el-Tines.

Media reports said that Berri will call for a session on April 5 where canceling the 1960 will be a priority on its agenda.

A consensus over an electoral law has yet to be reached after the Orthodox Gathering's proposal that considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system, was opposed by President Michel Suleiman, Miqati, al-Mustaqbal bloc, the PSP, and the independent Christian MPs of the March 14 opposition, saying it harms the social fabric and increases sectarian tension.

Suleiman and Miqati have signed a decree that sets the elections on June 9 based on the 1960 law that was used in the 2009 polls over the lack of agreement between the bickering parliamentary blocs.

Their call have drawn the ire of the March 8 majority coalition, which has totally rejected the law.

“Our priority is kicking off consultations to form a new cabinet,” Adwan told reporters.

He expected that the Speaker will call for a parliamentary session next week “in an attempt to preserve the role played by the parliament.”

“Only the Speaker has the right to set the agenda of the parliamentary session,” the lawmaker added.

For his part, Gemayel called for the formation of a national salvation cabinet.

He pointed out that the government's main task would be overseeing the adoption of a new electoral law.