Public sector employees and teachers held on Monday a sit-in in Beirut amid a deepening row with lawmakers on the wage scale draft-law and with the education minister on the official exams that are set to start on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Educational General Inspectorate threatened teachers with legal prosecution if they boycott the supervision of exams.

The presidential vacuum entered its third week on Monday as a large number of lawmakers failed to attend an electoral session, which met the fate of its predecessors over differences between the rival parties on a compromise candidate.

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the session to elect a new president to June 18 after MPs once again did not guarantee the needed two-thirds quorum.

Speaker Nabih Berri has launched a number of contacts with various concerned political sides over the new wage scale, reported the Kuwaiti daily Al-Anba on Sunday.

March 8 camp sources told the daily that the speaker is seeking an agreement between the political powers ahead of Tuesday's parliament session that is aimed at discussing the wage hike.

Visiting Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini stressed on Saturday that the army should be offered all the necessary support to maintain stability in Lebanon.

“Offering support to the Lebanese army is very important to maintain local, regional and international security,” the FM said in a joint press conference with her Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil at the Bustros Palace.

Speaker Nabih Berri will lead a Lebanese delegation to participate in the inauguration of the new Egyptian president while Prime Minister Tammam Salam apologized for not being able to attend the swearing-in of president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

Al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Saturday that Berri is expected to be accompanied by deputy PM Samir Moqbel.

Health Minister Wael Abou Faour on Thursday rejected from Ain el-Tineh any attempt to spread political vacuum into the parliament and cabinet amid the ongoing presidential void, stressing that “obstruction” will not lead anywhere.

“We are in a dilemma and a failure has happened in the presidential elections, but that must not lead to other failures or the paralysis of the parliament and cabinet,” Abou Faour said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh, delegated by MP Walid Jumblat.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam held talks on Thursday with Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain al-Tineh as media reports said the meeting tackled the mechanism regulating the government’s work during the ongoing presidential vacuum.

Salam left Ain al-Tineh without making any statement.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat briefed head of the Kataeb Party Amin Gemayel on the latest consultations to resolve the presidential deadlock.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Thursday, Aoun, who visited Gemayel to offer his condolences over the death of his sister Claude, briefed the Phalange leader on his meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the presidential crisis.

Speaker Nabih Berri urged the United States to play a “fair and balanced role” in managing the dispute between Lebanon and Israel over the two countries' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

According to As Safir newspaper published on Thursday, Berri called on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting between the two officials to seek to carry out a balanced role between Lebanon and Israel “if the U.S. was interested to become an investor in the Lebanese offshore oil in the future.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun announced Wednesday from Ain el-Tineh that the participation of the Change and Reform bloc MPs in parliamentary sessions “is being mulled,” noting that solutions to the political crises might be found “in the near future.”

“It is normal to talk about the thorny issues, such as the presidential vote, the cabinet's faltering work and the parliament's performance,” Aoun said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri.