Berri stresses that elections will be held in May

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has emphasized that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be held on time in May.

“Between May and July the electoral law will not change and will stay the same as it is now,” Berri added, in an interview with the Asas Media news portal.

“I had previously made an offer to those who have now become against it -- despite having supported it before -- which calls for the cancellation of the six seats abroad in exchange for allowing expats to vote within the country. I also agreed to a limited technical postponement to allow for the facilitation of voting here, but they did not accept,” Berri said.

He added: “I have now withdrawn this offer, and we are going to the elections on schedule and according to the existing law.”

“I will not call for any session to amend the law. All we have to do is implement it. This is the only solution I have. The elections will be in May. It is unfortunate that we will hold them according to the current law,” Berri went on to say.

As for what is required of the government before that date, he pointed out that “according to the law, it has no role. There are a few procedures that are taken by only two ministers, not the government, namely the Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs.”

“When the nominations are made public, we can say that we have seriously entered the election process. Unfortunately, no one is talking about anything but the elections these days, forgetting the daily Israeli attacks in the south,” Berri added.

“Once the parliamentary elections are held, they immediately acquire legitimacy because they express the popular will. Do we remember the 1992 elections and the skepticism that accompanied them until they were held? As soon as they ended, all of that disappeared, and the elected parliament acquired its full legitimacy,” the Speaker said.