Report: Berri re-focuses on presidential vote to protect country

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly urged all parties to elect a president.

"Berri has directly called all the parties concerned with the presidential file to seize the opportunity to protect the country by electing a president," Ain el-Tineh sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Thursday.

The source added that Berri is "always ready" for any effort that would break the presidential impasse and is discussing the presidential file in all his meetings with envoys and ambassadors.

The Speaker has encouraged the Qataris to resume their presidential efforts, the source said.

An earlier report in al-Liwaa newspaper claimed that senior Lebanese officials had contacted the Qatari leadership, including during caretaker PM Najib Mikati’s meetings in Davos, asking it to send Qatari envoy Jassem bin Fahad Al-Thani to Lebanon as soon as possible in order to revive the presidential election file.

Doha and the five-nation group for Lebanon -- which also comprises the U.S., France, KSA, and Egypt -- have sought to facilitate the presidential election file in Lebanon but Qatar's efforts stopped with the eruption of the Gaza war.

Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, with neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one.

France has warned Lebanon that the presidential vacancy is weighing on the country's ability to overcome its crises and to prevent a security deterioration amid risks of escalation of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.