Constitutional Council Likely to Accept Parliament Extension Challenges amid Warning by Berri

The Constitutional Council is likely to approve challenges made by the president and the Free Patriotic Movement against parliament's extension of its mandate but Speaker Nabih Berri warned that elections cannot be held amid the deteriorating security situation in the country.

Informed sources have told several local dailies published on Monday that the council's decision is expected to be issued no later than June 20 when parliament's four-year mandate expires.

President Michel Suleiman and the Change and Reform bloc of FPM chief Michel Aoun made the challenges respectively on June 1 and June 3 after the legislature extended its term for 17 months, pushing the elections date to November 2014.

The parliament's move came after the rival parties failed to agree on a new law to govern the polls and amid the rejection of the implementation of the 1960 law that was used in the 2009 elections.

But in remarks to the newspapers, Berri wondered how the elections would be held amid the spread of security incidents throughout the country. “Does the candidate and the voter have the freedom of movement in these circumstances?”

He said that Lebanon would end up in a vacuum if the council's decision on the challenges was made after June 20.

But if its 10 members were able to reach a decision before that date, then parliament would meet to make a technical extension of its term to allow the elections to take place in a couple of months.

“Everything is so far frozen pending the ruling of the Constitutional Council,” he said.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel also said that his ministry is ready to hold the elections within two months if the challenges were approved.

But it needed around six months to prepare for the polls if the rival parties agreed on a new law that adopts proportionality.