Report: Berri Says MPs Must Either Resume Dialogue or Elect President

Speaker Nabih Berri voiced calls on the parliamentarians to either resume the all-party talks, or go to the parliament to elect a president in the next session, al-Akhbar daily reported on Saturday.

“They rejected the 'package deal' which is practically the agenda of the table of dialogue and accused me of disabling the constitution,” Berri told the daily.

“It is either they resume dialogue, or let's go to the parliament and apply the constitution and elect a president in the next meeting,” added Berri.

Berri, who chairs the national dialogue, suspended the meetings after the Change and Reform bloc said it would boycott future sessions.

In June, Berri had launched a 'package deal' aimed at ending the presidential impasse. He called for shortening the term of parliament and that the elections be held based on the 1960 law should political forces fail to agree on a new electoral one.

He also called for staging the presidential elections after the parliamentary ones and forming a national unity government.

Several political parties rejected Berri's initiative.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and 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.