Berri Sees 'Light at End of Tunnel' for Presidency, Urges Saudi-Iranian 'Reconciliation'
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed hope Sunday that Lebanon's long-running presidential vacuum will see an end soon, as he called for a “Saudi-Iranian” reconciliation aimed at pacifying the situation in the region.
“We in Lebanon have started to see a light at the end of the tunnel on the possibility that the Lebanese parties will be able to elect a president soon,” Berri told the 23rd conference of the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and the Free Patriotic Movement, Hizbullah and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions.
Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
Hizbullah and the FPM, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that FPM founder MP Michel Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
Separately, Berri said Sunday that “a major conspiracy is gripping the Arab world under the slogan of democracy.”
“In reality, this is the 'creative chaos' that we have been promised and it is materializing although a lot of parties are trying to deny this fact,” Berri added.
“I believe that sedition is underway in the Islamic world and the Arab societies,” the speaker warned, calling for “a rapprochement and a reconciliation between the Arab Gulf and the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
He said such a reconciliation would have a “major impact” on the situation in the conflict-torn region.
Y.R.
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