Legislative Session Set for July 29 amid Constitutionality and Agenda Row

A parliamentary session was postponed on Tuesday for the second consecutive time over lack of quorum caused by the boycott of several parliamentary blocs due to a dispute with Speaker Nabih Berri.

The three-day session was set by Berri for July 29.

The speaker has insisted to keep the 45 draft-laws on the session's agenda and said he would continue to call on MPs for a General Assembly meeting until the agenda is discussed.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, the March 14 alliance's MPs and the Change and Reform bloc have boycotted the session.

Miqati argues that there is no balance between the powers of the legislative and executive branches amid a resigned government. March 14 reportedly is linking the extension of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's mandate, which is on the session's agenda, to the fate of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi.

Rifi, who is backed by the March 14's al-Mustaqbal movement, retired after he turned 59 – the ISF's maximum working age – on April 1. His post is now held by acting chief Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous.

Qahwaji's term ends in September when he turns 60.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat told LBCI TV's reporter in parliament that had Berri cared about the extension of Qahwaji's mandate he would have facilitated a deal on the legislative session's agenda.

Miqati and several March 14 officials had called for a compromise by limiting the number of draft-laws on the session's agenda. But Berri insisted on keeping it intact.

Fatfat also denied that al-Mustaqbal was linking the extension of Qahwaji's term to the return of Rifi to his ISF command post.

MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform has a different reason to boycott the session. Aoun staunchly opposes the extension of Qahwaji's tenure.

But his stance is not on a par with its ally Hizbullah, whose MPs attended Tuesday's session along with members of Berri's bloc and the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat.