Berri says truce before president, voices fear over Hezbollah MPs' participation in vote

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert stressed to Speaker Nabih Berri days ago "the need to call for" a presidential election session in parliament as soon as possible, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

"Though Berri was clear in his response that the time is inappropriate to elect a president now because Lebanon is under an Israeli aggression and the priority is for a ceasefire, Plasschaert insisted on her demand, saying a president's election could be the solution's key and could lead to a ceasefire," the daily said.

This prompted Berri to tell the U.N. official that he has concerns over the safety of the Hezbollah MPs who would take part in the vote, seeing as Israel might try to "assassinate" them, al-Akhbar added.

The Speaker then asked

Plasschaert whether there are any security guarantees in that regard, prompting her to say that "no one can guarantee that that wouldn't happen," the newspaper said.