Parliament sit-in underway as more MPs support the protest

A sit-in inside the parliament building was still underway Friday, with more legislators joining the two independent lawmakers who had announced they won't leave until Speaker Nabih Berri holds an open-ended session to elect a new president.

MPs Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba of the Change parliamentary bloc had begun on Thursday the open-ended sit-in inside parliament to press for an end to the presidential deadlock.

The authorities locked the doors and cut off power but after nightfall, the sit-in was still underway.

"We slept here, and we hope that today will bring new hope to Lebanon," said Saliba in a video posted on social media on Friday.

Change MPs Firas Hamdan, Cynthia Zarazir, Elias Jrade, Paula Yacoubian, Halima Kaakour, and Waddah al-Sadek and Kataeb MPs Sami Gmayyel and Elias Hankash visited Khalaf and Saliba in the evening, while journalists were not authorized to enter the building.

Members of the group posted videos showing them sitting in the dark against the light of their mobile phones, as Lebanon suffers from chronic electricity cuts of up to 23 hours a day.

The cash-strapped country for over two years has struggled with rampant power cuts. Today, households only receive about an hour of state electricity per day, with millions now relying on expensive private generator suppliers.

Khalaf on Thursday affirmed that he can easily stay in parliament even if authorities cut power off. "All Lebanese have no electricity," he said.

Parliament had convened Thursday for an 11th bid to elect a new president, but failed again to come up with a candidate.

"We will not leave," Khalaf told reporters.

But it could be a very long wait.

The 2016 election of former president Michel Aoun followed a more than two-year vacancy at the presidential palace, as lawmakers made 45 failed attempts to elect a new head of state.