Home » News » Lebanon: Berri is “not pessimistic” at the presidential level… and will not call for “non-competitive” election sessions

Lebanon: Berri is “not pessimistic” at the presidential level… and will not call for “non-competitive” election sessions

Lebanon: Berri is “not pessimistic” at the presidential level… and will not call for “non-competitive” election sessions

Al-Rahi attacks the deputies and their “blind obedience”


Monday – 15 Rajab 1444 AH – 06 February 2023 AD Issue No. [
16141]

Speaker Nabih Berri (House of Representatives)

Beirut: Thaer Abbas

The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, declared that he was “not pessimistic” regarding the file of the presidential elections, whose position became vacant on the first of last November, and the deputies were unable to elect an alternative to the outgoing President Michel Aoun, while the Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai attacked the deputies. Those who fail to elect the president” and saw that their blind obedience to their leaders amounted to “high treason.”
Speaker Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat that he would not call for a new election session “unless he finds a possibility to elect a president for the republic, or if he perceives the existence of real competition in Parliament,” stressing that “there will be no repetition of theatrics,” referring to the routine election sessions that have been held since the end of the year. past without bearing.
Berri indicated that the movement in the presidential file is currently limited to the meetings that took place in France, and what is happening from some internal contacts with the deputies to explore the possibility of agreeing on a candidate, but he stressed, on the other hand, that “the Lebanese are the basis for any presidential movement, and any movement.” An external one must be supplemented by an internal Lebanese decision, and this is what everyone must be aware of and not give in to a vacuum.”
Berri confirmed that he was “not pessimistic” about the presidential file, without disclosing the reasons. He says, “We can bear weeks of waiting without a president, but we certainly will not tolerate delays for months and years, especially since the country needs now more than ever before every drop of effort to get it out of its crises.” And he stressed the need for the government to convene to address the people’s basic and urgent issues, considering that the government’s failure to convene is a constitutional violation, not its convening »in an indirect reference to the objection of the Free Patriotic Movement headed by Representative Gebran Bassil to any government meeting in light of the presidential vacuum.
Yesterday, Patriarch Al-Rahi launched an unprecedented attack on the deputies, saying in his Sunday sermon that “the condition of the Lebanese people who suffer from poverty and hunger, from being deprived of medicine and food, and from the loss of right and justice, is the result of the poor performance of politicians who are devoted to betraying the people. Who entrusted them with the institutions of the state so that they would rule for him with truth and justice, and secure the common good from which the good of all citizens and the good of every one ». He said: “The nation’s deputies, with blind obedience to their references, refrain from electing a president for the republic, and prefer the worsening collapse of constitutional and public institutions, the oppression of the people, and the forcing of our best living forces to the bitterness of emigration. Isn’t this high treason? Rather, it is a great crime against the Lebanese people and the state? He added, “They talk about the necessity of dialogue in order to reach a consensual candidate, while some cling to their candidate and want to impose it on others, while others cling to the right to veto the nomination of this or that of the qualified personalities, and they are numerous. The first thing that requires this dialogue, if it takes place, is to start first from Lebanon and its situation and the situation of the Lebanese, and then search for the best and best candidate for this circumstance. Secondly, it requires renunciation of selfishness aimed at private interest.
As for the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, Archbishop Elias Odeh, he saw that “the bitter reality we live in is caused by pride and selfishness, while the engine is suspicious connections, interests, gains, and sectarian divisions.” He said: “Intransigence, arrogance, hatred and settling scores only led us to retreat and collapse. It is time for prudence, humility, and a return to the constitution, which alone regulates our lives, and let every official, leader, and citizen do his duty in order to save this country. He asked: “How can the parliament, which is entrusted with implementing the constitution, fail to elect a president? And what is the interest of the unemployed?
As for the excellent Jaafari Mufti, Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan, he believed that “it is necessary to agree on a head of national interests, because the position of the President of the Republic is at the heart of the sovereign structure. Lebanon is a partnership of sects, and international knives surround it from every side, and the most we want is a president of national interests, and any mistake in this field means the slaughter of Lebanon.
Representative Hani Qubeisi, a member of Berri’s parliamentary bloc, considered that “there are those who obstruct all benefits, and do not want a president who agrees with the resistance in opinion or supports it with a position, but rather does not want a president who protects the back of the resistance at the level of the political system.” He added, “You are obstructing the election of the president, objecting to the meetings of the Council of Ministers to conduct business, and you do not agree to any appointment, as state institutions have become paralyzed, and thus you are destroying state institutions by refusing to fulfill any merit, but rather you meet with the West to issue new dictates to us.” And he believed that “Lebanon today is in dire need of understanding and coexistence, and let us all be in agreement on what is good for our state and our institutions, and not for one party to seek to defeat another team. We are advocates of dialogue and understanding with all parties to deliver a president who is not a party.”
A member of the Central Council of “Hezbollah”, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, affirmed that “the party is keen to take the initiative to do everything that would alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese, and it is making every effort to accelerate the election of a president for the republic, because it constitutes a natural starting point for saving the country and stopping the collapse.” He said, “Lebanon does not tolerate external dictates, neither presidential nor otherwise,” considering that “the only available solution is to speed up the start of dialogue to reach a Lebanese-Lebanese consensus, and there is no alternative to consensus, neither today nor tomorrow nor the day after.” He added, “As for those who continue to shout in loud voices and raise slogans greater than their sizes, they are expressing their despair, frustration and disappointment, and they are incapable of changing the equations produced by the victories of the resistance, or of changing the identity and composition of Lebanon.”


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