Speaker Nabih Berri has said that both Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement agreed not to have preconditions on their expected dialogue on the crises gripping the country.
“This issue has been settled and is now behind us,” local dailies published on Monday quoted Berri as saying.
Full StoryThe presidential election session was postponed for the sixteenth time on Wednesday following a lack of quorum at parliament as Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea reiterated his accusation that the Change and Reform bloc was obstructing the polls.
Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled the new electoral session for December 10.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed hope that the rival lawmakers would end up agreeing on a new electoral law as a parliamentary committee kick off on Monday talks on the controversial issue.
“The meeting of the committee this time is not just aimed at holding discussions. The evidence to that is the one-month deadline for consensus,” said Geagea.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat have said they are exerting efforts to launch dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.
Local dailies published on Monday quoted Berri as saying that he and Jumblat were seeking to open channels of dialogue between the rival parties.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday said he supports going to parliamentary elections if the Constitutional Council decides to shorten the extended term of parliament, stressing that Saudi Arabia did not influence his party's decision to vote in favor of extension.
“If the Constitutional Council decides to shorten the extension period, we are with going to elections, even under the 1960 (electoral) law,” Geagea said in an interview on LBCI television.
Full StoryLebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea described his ties with al-Mustaqbal movement of ex-Premier Saad Hariri as “eternal,” stressing their alliance was essential in preserving Lebanon.
“Our relations are eternal. They go beyond that. We consider the alliance between the LF and al-Mustaqbal essential in keeping the unity of the Lebanese entity,” said Geagea in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Monday.
Full StoryFree Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said the extension of parliament’s mandate until June 2017 was aimed at preventing a change in the legislature's majority and revealed that dialogue with al-Mustaqbal movement on the presidential deadlock has stopped.
“The real reason behind the extension is to stop the current (parliamentary) majority from changing and consequently to control the presidential elections,” Aoun told As Safir newspaper in an interview published on Monday.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea launched a scathing attack on Wednesday against the Change and Reform bloc led by MP Michel Aoun, accusing it of seeking to “change the political system” and noting that the LF voted for extending the parliament's term in order to prevent the fall of the state.
“It has become obvious that the aim of the Change and Reform bloc is toppling all state institutions as a prelude to changing the entire political system through a constituent assembly,” Geagea said at a press conference in Maarab, hours after the parliament voted to extend its own term for another 27 months.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea renewed on Tuesday his opposition to the extension of parliament's term, while accusing the government and Change and Reform bloc of adopting double standards in this issue.
He said during a press conference: “We can avoid the extension by heading to parliament and electing a president on Wednesday instead of voting for the renewal of its term.”
Full StoryLebanese officials have welcomed Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech amid hopes that it would lead to dialogue among the country's rival parties.
“The country needs positive rhetoric more than any other time and this is what I saw in Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's” speech, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat told As Safir daily published on Tuesday.
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