Berri Slams 'Obstruction', Reiterates Call for 'Package Deal' and Adherence to 'Diamond Equation'

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday slammed “political absurdity and obstruction,” and reiterated his call for agreeing on a “package deal” involving the presidency, the government and the electoral law.

“Transition to statehood requires an end to political procrastination and the belief that any of us can monopolize the national decision or have a veto on the national decision,” said Berri at a Tyre rally marking 38 years since the disappearance of AMAL Movement founder Imam Moussa al-Sadr.

“Let us stop political absurdity and commit to the Constitution. In the face of the forces that are continuing their coup against the political life, we will resort to the power of the people if needed,” he added.

“Confidence in the State will remain shaken if there is no president but this does not mean that the country must be deprived of legislation, security and administration,” Berri went on to say.

He also reiterated his call for a so-called “package deal,” noting that an agreement over the presidency alone “would not be enough.”

“We should agree on an electoral law and on the formation of the next government, which would definitely allow the election of a president,” the speaker added.

“Proportional representation is the cure for our national diseases and it is the vehicle that can transport us to citizenship rather than isolation and bigotry,” he said, referring to the electoral law.

“The State that does not implement its Constitution and claims that proportional representation requires 'a teacher' would be trying to impose ignorance on its citizens,” Berri stated.

He also suggested that an “agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran” would help “resolve the political obstacles in Lebanon and Syria.”

Defending Hizbullah's arsenal of weapons and the so-called army-people-resistance equation, Berri added: “We stress our adherence to the army-people-resistance 'diamond equation' and disarming the resistance before eliminating Israel's threat is a heresy.”

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and the MPs of Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Aoun's two ministers in the cabinet and their Tashnag Party ally boycotted last week's cabinet session over a dispute related to military appointments and the government's jurisdiction in the absence of a president.

The Change and Reform bloc has also threatened to boycott national dialogue sessions, accusing rival parties of failing to abide by the 1943 National Pact which stipulates equal power-sharing between Christians and Muslims.