Berri: Franjieh's numbers shocked rivals

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he will await the outcome of the current regional and international efforts before calling for a new presidential election session.

“Lebanon is present on the agenda of most meetings,” Berri said in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, noting that Wednesday’s election session has proved that there should be “dialogue and consensus instead of challenge and provocation.”

“The votes that (ex-)minister Suleiman Franjieh received came as a clear message, seeing as the number he got shocked the rivals, the same as they were shocked by the meager number of votes that ex-minister Jihad Azour received,” Berri added.

Berri also suggested that “Lebanon survived an attempt to create a crisis against the backdrop of the presidential vote.”

“They were confident of getting at least 67 votes for Azour and they were planning to create a problem through staying in parliament’s chamber if he gets these votes while considering that he won the elections,” Berri charged.

“This would have plunged the country into a very dangerous place,” he added.

“We survived a major crisis and everyone must realize that there is no exit other than dialogue,” Berri went on to say.

Azour received 59 votes in the first round of voting in Wednesday’s session as Franjieh garnered 51 votes. Berri later adjourned the session amid a loss of quorum and controversy over a “lost” vote. Berri has argued that 86 votes are needed by any candidate to win from the first round while 65 are needed in the second round on the condition that there is a two-thirds quorum.

Lebanon has been without a head of state for more than seven months, and the previous attempt to elect a president was held on January 19.