Berri Says Extension Session's Constitutionality Hinges on Decision-Making

Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that a session on the extension of parliament's mandate next week would undermine constitutional partnership unless key Christian blocs participated in the vote.

Constitutional partnership “is not represented only in attending the session, because a quorum is already secured,” Berri told his visitors late Wednesday.

Partnership lies in “the participation in decision-making and consequently, the constitutionality of the session depends on Christian participation in voting on the draft-law to extend parliament’s mandate,” said Berri.

His remarks were published in local newspapers on Friday.

The speaker said Wednesday’s session would discuss several issues, mainly two draft-laws that call for “a technical extension through the suspension of an electoral law deadline for a limited period and a long-term extension” of the legislature’s mandate.

The second draft-law has been proposed by Zahle MP Nicolas Fattoush for an extension of two years and seven months.

Berri warned that if major Christian blocs or the “Christian nerve” did not attend, then “the session will be in jeopardy.”

“I will speak out then,” Berri said about the stance of the major Christian blocs - Change and Reform, Lebanese Forces, Kataeb and MPs loyal to Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh.

Kataeb MPs are not likely to attend Wednesday's session. As for the LF, its MPs will probably vote for the extension.

The Change and Reform bloc, which is led by Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun, is also expected not to head to parliament.

But its final stance will be announced during the bloc's weekly meeting next week, al-Joumhouria daily said Friday.

It quoted Change and Reform sources as saying that lawmakers should have agreed on a new electoral law after the first extension of parliament's mandate last year.

“Nothing happened so far. So what benefits a second extension would bring to us?” they asked.

“We haven't received any sign or guarantees that serious efforts are underway to agree on an electoral law,” they said.

Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb, who is also an MP, said on Friday that the March 14 alliance's independent Christian lawmakers “will have to accept an exceptional extension of parliament's term pending the election of a president.”

“We agree that the extension is undemocratic but our choice lies in salvaging Lebanon,” he said during a joint press conference with MP Dori Chamoun at the parliament.

Parliament extended its term until November this year after the rival MPs failed to agree on a new law and claimed the security situation did not guarantee violence-free elections.

A similar extension is set to take place next week to avoid a further vacuum in constitutional institutions, which began with the failure to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman at the end of his term in May.