Suleiman Warns of Extending Parliament's Mandate, Calls for Exerting Efforts for Consensus

President Michel Suleiman warned on Friday of extending the tenure of the parliament, calling on MPs to exert efforts to reach consensus over a new electoral law.

“Stepping over the people's will to select their representatives, which was stated in the law and based on democracy” is a red line, Suleiman told his visitors.

He pointed out that the extension of the parliaments term may have negative repercussions on Lebanon's reputation, economy and the trust granted to it by foreign counties.

“Constitutional deadlines were created to be respected,” Suleiman added.

He called on lawmakers to exert efforts to reach consensus over a new electoral law instead of “wasting chances” on political bickering.

Consultations are ongoing among the Lebanese foes to reach an agreement on a new electoral law that would govern the upcoming parliamentary elections despite media reports saying that the foes are already discussing the possibility of extending the parliament's tenure.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed a parliamentary session on May 15 to allow more consultations over the matter.

The parliament's electoral subcommittee held a meeting at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and is set to hold another session in the afternoon to discuss the hybrid proposals.

On Thursday, the Speaker scheduled another parliamentary session for Saturday, which is set to be decisive on whether to extent the parliament's tenure of hold the polls.