Speaker Nabih Berri described on Saturday the hybrid electoral draft-law that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems as “the best proposal.”

He stressed that the division of parliamentary seats between the two systems makes it hard for anyone to predict the result of the elections, considering the hybrid law to have “comprehensive mysteriousness.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that a meeting held on Thursday between his aide and al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri's adviser could be the last before the much anticipated dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal.

Local dailies published on Friday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that the talks between his aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Nader Hariri to agree on the agenda of the dialogue could be the last one.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly welcomed on Thursday the recent efforts to push for dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.

Plumbly said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh that he agreed with him that “dialogue is necessary for strengthening Lebanon’s security, stability and coexistence and for moving forward on outstanding constitutional steps.”

The consultations setting the stage for the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement have almost been completed and are awaiting Speaker Nabih Berri's decision to set the date for the talks, the Hizbullah leader's aide, Hussein Khalil, said.

The preparatory meetings, which have been held between Berri's aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Nader Hariri, the advisor of al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, are paving way for the dialogue, Hussein Khalil told As Safir daily published on Wednesday.

Nader Hariri, who is the adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, has held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri's aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil to set the stage for the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that the meeting between Nader Hariri and Khalil took place on Monday.

The dialogue that is scheduled to take place between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement has been put on the right track after the return of Nader Hariri from talks with al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris.

Local dailies published Monday quoted Speaker Nabih Berri as saying that contacts between him and the representatives of the two parties will become more active this week.

Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Saturday that chances are high for dialogue to yield well between al-Mustaqbal movement and Hizbullah, the As Safir daily reported on Saturday.

Berri described the dialogue-encouraging stance of al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri as “good”, saying: “Hariri's stance reiterates what I announced later on the necessity to keep the agenda of talks away from the issue of the Resistance's arms and the Syrian file, for difficulty of reaching an agreement on those two.”

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat slammed the authorities on Friday for using force against the relatives of servicemen taken hostage by jihadists in August, urging officials for some “modesty.”

Jumblat described the clampdown on the protesters at Beirut's Saifi area as “shameful.”

Speaker Nabih Berri expected dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement to start by the end of the year but stressed that the controversy on Hizbullah's arsenal and it role in Syria would not be on the agenda of the talks.

Several local dailies published on Friday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal could agree on several other issues which they differ on.

The Saudi Ambassador has informed Speaker Nabih Berri that a request made by Riyadh to the U.N. to blacklist Hizbullah and efforts to hold dialogue between al-Mustaqbal movement and Hizbullah were separate issues.

Local dailies on Wednesday quoted Berri as telling his visitors that he inquired Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri about the request made last week by the Saudi diplomat to add Hizbullah to the U.N.'s sanctions list.