Berri Calls for Cooperation to End Presidential Stalemate
Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Saturday that the presidential deadlock should end swiftly after the parliament tenure extension became a de-facto.
“Now it's time for us to discuss the presidential elections,” Berri said in comments published in al-Mustaqbal newspaper.
He pointed out that the extension decision was a “necessity that allowed the prohibited,” considering that the country would have reached a dark stage without it.
“We have to work together to reach consensus,” Berri told the newspaper.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since May, when President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended without a successor.
Parliament extended its term on Wednesday despite the boycott of several lawmakers. But nine out of 24 ministers refused on Thursday to sign the draft-law.
The lawmakers, who voted in favor of the draft-law, claim they need to extend their own term in office because the security situation is too dire to allow holding elections amid Syria's civil war.
They also say extending parliament's mandate will prevent another power vacuum from forming in a country already divided along sectarian and regional lines.
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