Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday said he has learned a lesson he'll never forget after he was stopped at a checkpoint in downtown Beirut.

“As I was driving back home yesterday, I was taken by the performance of an unknown soldier at an Internal Security Forces' checkpoint in downtown Beirut, who asked me politely and courteously to wear my seatbelt, telling me: 'Mr. Walid, the seatbelt protects you,'” said Jumblat in a press release.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has called for patience in the formation of the new government but urged the political parties to facilitate the task of Premier-designate Tammam Salam.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Tuesday, Jumblat said: “There are nonstop contacts to bring viewpoints closer so that we could as soon as possible form a cabinet that suits the current circumstances.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat revealed on Monday that Dr. Ghassan Qanso was the first individual to discover Lebanon's offshore oil wealth back in the mid-1970s.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “Qanso must be credited for the discovery, not some political and non-political rookies who are marking illusory victories on a daily basis, while the Fatmagul Sultan power vessel is docked with a malfunction and unable to generate electricity.”

The constitutional council is set to meet on Monday to appoint a rapporteur to draft a report on a challenge submitted by MP Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front bloc over the suspension of the electoral deadlines set by the 1960 law.

The head of the 10-member council, Dr. Issam Suleiman, told An Nahar newspaper that the rapporteur has 10 days to submit his report.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Monday that he will not call for a parliamentary session ahead of May 15 to discuss the electoral law, pointing out that lawmakers will have to act responsibly.

“I advise different groups not to waste their time... I will not call for a session to end the dispute over the electoral law ahead of the one set on May 15,” Berri told several newspapers published Monday.

A delegation from the Progressive Socialist Party informed Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday that a vote law proposal he had made does not guarantee the best representation for all the Lebanese.

“We can't guarantee through Berri's proposal the best representation for all the Lebanese,” said caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour who visited the speaker in Ain el-Tineh at the head of the PSP delegation.

Efforts to extend the term of the current parliament are beginning to emerge, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Informed political sources told the daily that Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat are leading these attempts in order to avoid a political vacuum in Lebanon given the failure to reach an agreement over a new parliamentary electoral law.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat have discussed the division of districts in a hybrid electoral law to avoid a clash in parliament at a session scheduled to be held on May 15, reports said Saturday.

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, who is loyal to Jumblat, told As Safir daily that the meeting that was held in Ain el-Tineh “focused on ideas” linked to the hybrid proposal that combines the winner-takes-all and proportional representation systems.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Friday called on Russia to exert efforts to end the war that has been raging in Syria for more than two years.

During talks in Mukhtara with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Jumblat said: “We see in Bogdanov's visit an additional indication on the Lebanese-Russian friendship and Mukhtara will not forget the moral, material and political support offered by Russia when Lebanon was facing the partitioning scheme.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held talks on Friday with Speaker Nabih Berri on the government formation process and the parliamentary electoral law.

He said after the meeting at Ain el-Tineh: “We discussed several proposals over the law and I will issue a stance over one of them within 24 hours.”