Naharnet

Berri Forms Committee to Prepare for Presidential Polls

Speaker Nabih Berri has revealed that he formed a committee to hold consultations with Lebanon's rival parties on the upcoming presidential elections.

The members of the committee are from his Development and Liberation bloc, the speaker, who is the head of Amal movement, said.

He told As Safir newspaper published on Monday that the MPs would start consulting the parties on the polls after March 25 in conjunction with talks that he would hold with the same sides to guarantee the appropriate atmosphere to hold a parliamentary session.

President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ends in May but the Constitution states that the parliament should start meeting March 25 to elect a new head of state.

No one has yet officially announced his candidacy for the top post. But there are several contenders from the rival March 8 and 14 camps.

Asked to comment on the violent clashes linked to Syria's war and the rise in the kidnap-for-ransom phenomenon, Berri said the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern Bekaa Valley are in an urgent need for a security-development plan.

The situation in the two areas is “no longer acceptable,” he told As Safir.

Berri said his Amal movement and its ally Hizbullah have lifted the political cover off any violator of the law and any side that tampers with security, in particular kidnapping gangs.

“I have also revealed the names of the persons involved in the kidnappings in the Bekaa,” he said, adding “the army and the security agencies should pursue them and arrest them.”


Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. https://naharnet.com/stories/en/123611