Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi told Egypt’s MENA news agency that he expects the elections to take place in May.

“The elections won’t take place in March, unless President Michel Aoun agrees to sign, before December 27, the decree amending the electoral law and rescheduling elections for March 27,” Mawlawi said. “But Aoun is firm on his refusal to sign the decree,” the minister affirmed.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Monday told French presidential envoy Pierre Duquesne that “the contacts are still ongoing to resume Cabinet sessions, especially that the upcoming period requires holding intensive Cabinet sessions to take decision on numerous files.”

Miqati, however, noted that “calling for a Cabinet session without securing the appropriate circumstances might lead to further political tensions and might complicate the solutions.”

President Michel Aoun lamented Monday that “the continued failure to hold Cabinet sessions has paralyzed the various aspects of governmental work,” while also decrying the “obstruction of the judiciary’s work.”

“There is an urgent need to hold a Cabinet session, especially that a lot of issues have accumulated and require decisions from the government,” Aoun added, in a meeting with a delegation from the Tripoli Bar Association.

The Lebanese currency continued its decline on the black market Monday, with an unprecedented rate exceeding 26,000 against the dollar.

The pound had been pegged -- and officially still is -- to the dollar since 1997 at a rate of 1,500.

French presidential envoy Pierre Duquesne held talks Monday at the Grand Serail with Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Media reports said Duquesne aims to “explore Lebanon’s needs and inquire about what the Lebanese government has accomplished as to the promised reforms.”

The current week will not witness any breakthroughs in the economic, financial, political and judicial crises, a media report said on Monday.

Informed political sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that “no significant positive developments are expected before the year’s end,” noting that “the region’s situations are still complicated and the Vienna negotiations are slow, which means that Lebanon will automatically get affected by this situation.”

A session to interrogate ex-MP Fares Soaid was postponed Monday, due to a strike by judicial assistants.

The session was scheduled for today after Hizbullah filed a lawsuit against Soaid, because of a tweet that Hizbullah said “stirred sectarian sentiments and civil war.”

Three people were killed and ten others wounded Sunday in an armed clash at the al-Bourj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, al-Jadeed TV said.

The TV network said the clash, between the Islamist Hamas Movement and the secular Fatah Movement, broke out during the funeral of Hamas member Hamza Ibrahim Shahine, who was killed in Friday's blasts at the camp.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday called on the defense and interior ministries to explain the circumstances of Friday’s explosions at the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Bourj al-Shamali.

“We want the official and complete account of events for the blast that went off Friday at the al-Bourj al-Shamali camp in the city of Tyre so that we react accordingly,” Geagea said in a tweet.

Energy Minister Walid Fayyad traveled Sunday to Paris on an official visit during which he will meet with top officials in the energy, electricity and water sectors, state-run National News Agency reported.

“He will also meet with a number of officials at French electricity company EDF, the French Development Agency (AFD), which is funding several water and sewage projects, and the Total (Energies) firm, which is working on (offshore oil and gas) blocks 4 and 9,” NNA added.