Berri says next president to be 'made in Lebanon'

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for parliament to convene to elect a president next month to break a gridlock of over two years and reactivate the country's crippled state institutions.

In remarks published Monday in al-Joumhouria newspaper, Berri said he took the initiative without any foreign coordination.

French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian who visited Lebanon last week attended part of the parliamentary session in which Berri called for the presidential election session on January 9. "Even Le Drian was not informed in advance of my decision," Berri said.

Berri said the next president will be "Lebanese-made." He said that he had asked the five nation group on Lebanon -- which comprises the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt -- to "help us achieve what we want, not what they want."

The priority, Berri said, is to try to secure a consensus over a president who can win 86 votes and who can therefore enjoy a broad national acceptance. "He does not have to be close to Amal or Hezbollah, but what is important is that he should not be an opponent to neither Hezbollah nor any other (Lebanese) component."