Naharnet

Berri Hits Back at Geagea: I'm the One Trying to Tolerate Him

Speaker Nabih Berri hit back on Thursday at Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, saying he is the one who has been trying to “tolerate” the LF leader.

“He's right. He can't tolerate me and I'm the one who's been trying to tolerate him and stomach him,” Berri hit out, after Geagea announced that the March 14 forces will not “tolerate” Berri as parliament speaker after the 2013 legislative elections.

“With all due respect to Berri, we can no longer tolerate him as parliament speaker. We must form a harmonious government just as the other camp did,” Geagea had told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

He revealed that discussions with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Jeddah last week tackled the parliamentary elections, the formation of a new government, but not the presidential elections.

“What would be the point of the 2013 elections if we committed the same errors as the ones in 2009?” asked the LF leader.

Geagea said "discussions with Hariri addressed potential candidates for parliament speaker and prime minister.”

“It is too soon to speak about the presidency,” he added.

Separately, Berri held talks on Thursday in Ain al-Tineh with Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar on the developments in Lebanon and the situation in the North in general and in Tripoli in particular.

He also discussed the developments and the issue of the electoral law with former interior minister Ziad Baroud.


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