Christian Parties Step Up Contacts, Mull Demos as Tashnag Urges Berri to Postpone Session

The country's main Christian parties intensified their consultations on Tuesday to coordinate stances ahead of a controversial legislative session that is scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday.

“We cannot overlook the absence of the electoral law from the session's agenda,” Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after meeting Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel in Saifi.

Kanaan was accompanied by Lebanese Forces media officer Melhem Riachi.

“Our demands must be taken into consideration and the discussions were constructive with MP Sami Gemayel on the issue of the electoral law,” Kanaan added.

“We agreed that the session must not be held in the absence of main blocs and we will announce our measures in the right time,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, LBCI television quoted “LF, FPM and Kataeb sources” as saying that “the possibility of staging demos on Thursday in protest at the legislative session has been put on the front burner.”

The final stance “might be declared tomorrow in a joint statement,” the source said.

MP Hagop Pakradounian meanwhile told LBCI that the Tashnag Party hopes Speaker Nabih Berri “will postpone the session to allow further consultations and secure the attendance of the biggest number of blocs, especially Christian ones.”

“If the session does not get postponed, we will announce our stance tomorrow evening,” he added.

A prominent figure had told An Nahar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday that the situation has reached such a point that “street action is not ruled out over the possible absence of Christian blocs from the session.”

The protests may take place on Thursday before, after, or while the session is underway, the source said.

The legislative session is scheduled for November 12 and 13 amid a boycott of the Kataeb Party over the ongoing presidential vacuum.

The FPM and the LF have meanwhile cited Berri's failure to include the electoral law in the agenda as a reason for their possible boycott.

Y.R.