Berri Rejects to Engage in ‘Bargains’ in Exchange for His Re-election as Lebanon’s Speaker

Speaker Nabih Berri (AFP)
Speaker Nabih Berri (AFP)
TT

Berri Rejects to Engage in ‘Bargains’ in Exchange for His Re-election as Lebanon’s Speaker

Speaker Nabih Berri (AFP)
Speaker Nabih Berri (AFP)

Outgoing Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the eldest MP in the new parliament, has called for a parliamentary session on Tuesday to elect the speaker, the deputy speaker and the members of the speaker’s office, to pave the way for the formation of a new government.
According to well-informed sources, Berri has called for the session, regardless of the number of deputies who will vote in his favor, in order to reject claims that his non-election would hinder the formation of a new government.

According to the sources, Berri was keen to call for holding the session within the constitutional deadlines, because he would not allow suspending the parliamentary process until he secures his re-election by a majority of 65 deputies, i.e. half the number of Parliament members plus one.

If the parliamentary majority is not secured in the first two rounds, Berri may be re-elected in a third voting round, provided that the quorum required for its convening is complete.

In the absence of any form of compromise, Tuesday’s parliamentary session will inevitably see multiple candidates for the position of deputy speaker, including new faces in the parliament.

In this regard, sources close to the deputies representing the change movement told Asharq Al-Awsat that discussions were underway to draw up a unified road map and decide on a stance regarding the election of the parliament speaker.

On the other hand, the Democratic Parliamentary Gathering, headed by MP Taymour Walid Jumblatt, said that it would deal “realistically” with the election of the speaker of parliament, as long as there is no candidate running against Berri.

Sources close to the Gathering noted that its position on the election of the deputy speaker was currently subject to coordination with the other “sovereign forces.”

The Free Patriotic Movement’s Change and Reform bloc decided to nominate MP Elias Bou Saab for the position of deputy speaker. The head of the FPM, MP Gebran Bassil, who rebelled against the will of his ally Hezbollah, stated that he would not support the re-election of Berri unconditionally.

Berri, for his part, was quoted as saying that he would not engage in “bargains” in exchange for his election.



Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT

Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican's various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, Reuters reported.

"Yesterday, children were bombed," said the pope. "This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart."

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope's remarks amounted to a "trivialization" of the term genocide.

Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.

The patriarch's office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope's remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.