Berri, Jumblat Agree to Extend Parliament's Term amid Presidential Vacuum
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Speaker Nabih Berri agreed with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat that parliamentary elections shouldn't be staged ahead of the election of a new president.
According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Saturday, the two officials reject parliamentary elections amid the ongoing situation in the country.
Berri and Jumblat are reportedly preparing the extension of the parliament's term for two years and a half or even three years.
In May 2013, the parliament voted to extend its own mandate for 17 months after the rival political parties failed to reach a new electoral law.
Around 100 MPs from all blocs, except the Change and Reform bloc, voted to extend parliament's term until November 20, 2014.
The decision marked the first time that parliament has had to extend its term since the country's own 15-year civil war ended in 1990 and underlines the growing turmoil in Lebanon spilling over from the conflict raging in the neighboring country.
Lebanon has been plunged into a leadership vacuum after Michel Suleiman's presidential term ended on May 25 with rival political blocs still divided over a new leader.
Over the past two months the parliament convened eight times to try to elect a successor to Suleiman but failed during the last four sessions due to a lack of quorum.
H.K.
D.A.
05 July 2014, 09:12
00
this shows u that lebanon is a masqued dictatorship and those two dictator are breaking and bending the law and there's nobody to hold them accountable, Lebanese people dont stand up for their civil rights but will stand up for football issues.
05 July 2014, 17:40
00
In any self-respecting country, people and MPs follow the law, and it's not up to anyone, let alone clowns, to self-extend themselves.
Your friend Syria just had an, ahem, "election" in the middle of a bloody civil war, ya farteen.
No shame, and the people will swallow it in the end, sa7ten!!.
05 July 2014, 18:37
22
A few years back an sunny elder statesman said a very smart saying.
In the beginning of the civil war if we (sunnis) used our brain and settled the conflict quickly, none of these street gang leaders, A.K Jumblatt, Berri would have a voice in todays Lebanon.
That person was SAAB SALAAM
05 July 2014, 19:08
62
yea focus the blame on the only one who did not ask for the extension or vote for it, that sounds very reasonable and not biased at all.
as for the MPs, this extension is unacceptable, it's a freaking joke!! they are the ones who cant elect a president, so replacing them is the only way out. regardless of who we support, we should all demand our right to make our voices heard.
06 July 2014, 13:10
10
lebanese citizens: look at the poster above. He is the epidemy of hypocrisy and sectarianism not just sometimes but at all times.
