Hariri Meets Jumblat, Mustaqbal Bloc on Eve of National Dialogue

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri held separate consultations Monday with the members of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, on the eve of three days of consecutive national dialogue sessions.

“Ex-PM Saad Hariri met this evening at the Center House with Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblat, who was accompanied by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour,” Hariri's office said.

“The meeting was held in the presence of (Hariri's adviser) ex-MP Ghattas Khoury and the talks tackled the general situations and the latest developments,” Hariri's office added.

Earlier in the day, Hariri had presided over a meeting for the Mustaqbal bloc to discuss “the general situations on the eve of the national dialogue sessions.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has called for the August 2, 3 and 4 dialogue sessions in a bid to resolve several stalled issues in the country.

Hoping the meetings would bring “solutions,” the speaker has urged the parties to “make use of time” and try to reach agreements “with all due responsibility.”

“The parliament's term will not be extended under any circumstances,” Berri has stressed.

The speaker has proposed a package deal that involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government.

Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.