Berri Calls for 25th Electoral Session in Spite of Low Attendance

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned Wednesday the 24th time in a row a parliamentary session set to elect a new head of state over lack of quorum.

Berri said that the new session will be held on June 24.

Only 32 lawmakers arrived at the parliament.

Lebanon has been suffering from a presidential vacuum since President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended on May 25 last year, the longest time the post has been vacant since the devastating civil war ended in 1990.

The next session is also likely to meet the fate of of its predecessors if the rival parties failed to agree on a consensual candidate.

Hizbullah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc have been boycotting electoral sessions due to a disagreement with the March 14 alliance over a compromise presidential candidate.

H.K.

M.T.