Berri wonders if Oct. 13 is 'official holiday', LF says to attend session
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he does not intend to change the date of Thursday’s presidential election session, despite the Free Patriotic Movement’s objection and declared boycott.
Told that the October 13 anniversary is a sensitive topic for the FPM, Berri asked: “Is October 13 an official holiday? No, not as far as I know.”
“I only abide by the official holidays and nothing else,” Berri added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper.
Asked about the session’s quorum should other blocs decide to boycott it, the Speaker said: “Those who fail to attend the session would bear the responsibility for their stance, and should there be no quorum, I will set another date, no problem.”
Asked whether he intended to “target or provoke the FPM through setting a session on the anniversary of General (Michel) Aoun’s ouster by force from the Baabda Palace,” Berri smiled and said he wasn’t aware of the date.
Lebanese Forces bloc MP Ghayyath Yazbek meanwhile told Radio All of Lebanon that the LF bloc will take part in the session.
“With all due respect to the October 13 anniversary, this issue cannot be tackled in a political way,” Yazbek said.
Asked about the candidates of the Change bloc, Nassif Hitti, Ziad Baroud and Salah Honein, Yazbek described them as respectable figures but added that the LF does not believe that any of them can rescue Lebanon amid the current circumstances.
“The LF does not intend to nominate someone other than MP Michel Mouawad, because it sees in him all the patriotic and political characteristics, and he has all the professional capabilities and the sovereign expertise that push the LF to stand by him until the end,” Yazbek added.
Source: Naharnet
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