Speaker Nabih Berri lashed out at rival parties on Saturday, warning that if the political arch-foes agreed to extend the legislatures term then he would agree to delay the parliamentary elections even if it leads to further vacuum at state institutions.

“We have reached a dead-end and we have only two solutions either to wait for a military coup (which will not happen) or staging the elections,” Berri said in comments published in An Nahar and al-Akhabr newspapers.

Members of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat's parliamentary bloc will reportedly submit their candidacies for the upcoming general elections.

Sources close to Jumblat said in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Sunday that the lawmakers of the National Struggle Front will run for the elections, including MP Ghazi al-Aridi.

Speaker Nabih Berri and his parliamentary bloc submitted their candidacies on Thursday for the parliamentary elections.

According to the National News Agency, Berri, who is also the head of the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc, submitted his candidacy before leaving the country on a private visit.

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced calls on Wednesday to confront the danger of terrorism threatening Lebanon, and has prepared a memorandum on the protection of the minorities and Christians of the Levant.

"We must face the terrorist attack threatening Lebanon and its diversity. We must not persist in disabling the state institutions,” media reports quoted Berri as saying.

Speaker Nabih Berri has suspended efforts he was exerting with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat to resolve the presidential deadlock after the March 14 alliance announced a new initiative.

Berri told several officials who visited him on Tuesday that he and Jumblat were severely criticized when the PSP chief said he was in contact with the speaker and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to convince the rival parties to swiftly elect a new president.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday stressed that putting an end to the presidential void must be a “priority,” noting that the Taef Accord should be “implemented” rather than “manipulated.”

“The election of a new president should be a priority because the confidence of citizens and the world in Lebanon would erode should we continue our failure to elect a president,” said Berri in a televised speech marking the 36th anniversary of the disappearance of revered Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the founder of the AMAL Movement that the speaker heads.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed concern on Saturday over the developments in the northeastern border town of Arsal, calling for “awareness to avert sedition.”

“The current stage is very delicate... Awareness is required to avoid falling into sedition,” Berri said according to al-Akhbar newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri has asked the members of his parliamentary bloc to submit their candidacies for the elections as a move aimed at sending a clear message of his rejection to extend the legislature's mandate.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper said that Berri telephoned all members of his Development and Liberation bloc to urge them to announce their candidacies starting Friday.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has rejected calls for taking up arms against militants, saying only the arsenal of the Lebanese army and Internal Security forces is legitimate.

In remarks to several local newspapers published on Thursday, Salam said: “There are no weapons except for the legitimate arms of the Lebanese army and all the security agencies.”

Hizbullah remained silent over the Free Patriotic Movement's recent proposal on the election of the president directly by the people.

Sources close to the party stressed that head of the FPM Michel Aoun didn't discuss his suggestion, which requires a constitutional amendment, with the party.