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Berri’s Call for ‘Consensus’ over New Lebanese President Sparks Debate on Role of Parliament

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri casts his vote during the first session to elect a new president at the parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, 29 September 2022. (EPA)
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri casts his vote during the first session to elect a new president at the parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, 29 September 2022. (EPA)
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Berri’s Call for ‘Consensus’ over New Lebanese President Sparks Debate on Role of Parliament

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri casts his vote during the first session to elect a new president at the parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, 29 September 2022. (EPA)
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri casts his vote during the first session to elect a new president at the parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, 29 September 2022. (EPA)

The Lebanese parliament failed on Thursday to elect a new president for the republic. At its conclusion, Speaker Nabih Berri declared that the legislature will convene again once the MPs reach “consensus” over a presidential candidate.

The session ended with the speaker failing to schedule a date for a new electoral session.

His move has fueled legal and constitutional debate over the role of parliament in electing a president as the term of Michel Aoun draws to its end.

Legal and constitutional experts viewed Berri’s failure to schedule a new electoral session as political.

Founder of Justicia by Dr. Paul Morcos said constitutional regulations demand that electoral rounds be held in succession without long gaps in between.

They demand that 128-member parliament keep trying to elect a president until one is finally elected, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

This means that the parliament must dedicate all of its session to elect a president, and not legislate, he explained.

By failing to set a new electoral session, Berri may have allowed parliament to convene for legislative sessions.

Moreover, the elections will likely now be resolved through a political settlement or the country may be plunged in presidential vacuum, as had happened in the past, when Aoun’s term ends on October 31.

Morcos said Berri was better off holding successive electoral sessions to avoid the vacuum.

Constitutional expert Saeed Malek said parliament is obligated to elect a president and cannot hold legislative sessions.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he noted that Article 49 of the constitution speaks of electoral “rounds” not “sessions”.

These rounds should be held in one day or several days in succession, he explained.

This means that the round that was held on Thursday is still open and can only be adjourned with the election of a president, he added.

The constitution stipulates that the parliament must only play an electoral role until a president is elected. It can no longer legislate or vote in a government if it is formed, “unless some officials would like to interpret the constitution according to their political interests,” he added.

Lebanon has yet to form a new government after holding parliamentary elections in May, leaving it at risk of both presidential and government vacuums when Aoun’s term ends.

Member of Berri’s Liberation and Development parliamentary bloc MP Qassem Hashem said Article 75 of the constitution is clear in stipulating that once the first parliamentary electoral session is adjourned, then the speaker is demanded to call for a new one to be held.

Berri will call for a session once consensus is reached on a presidential candidate, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In the meantime, the parliament can still exercise its legislative role, he added.

Observers have interpreted Berri’s call for consensus on a president as a sign that the country is headed towards presidential vacuum given that MPs are in disagreement over a candidate.

The election rules mean no one party or alliance can impose their choice, requiring a two-thirds quorum in the politically fractured parliament.

The presidency has fallen vacant several times since the 1975-90 civil war. Anticipating another vacuum, politicians have stepped up efforts to agree a new cabinet led by Prime Minister Najib Mikati - who is currently serving in a caretaker capacity - to which presidential powers could pass.

The Shiite Hezbollah MPs cast blank ballots, as did its allies the Shiite Amal Movement – headed by Berri - and Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, totaling 63 of the 122 lawmakers who attended.

Foreign powers including the United States and European Union have urged timely presidential elections.

A presidential vacuum could further complicate government decision-making as Lebanon enters the fourth year of a financial collapse policymakers have done little or nothing to address.

Hezbollah, Amal and FPM lawmakers left Thursday's session before a second round of voting - when only 65 votes are needed to elect a president - leading to a loss of quorum.

The presidency was vacant for 29 months before Aoun was elected in 2016, thanks to a political deal.

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Arab World

Hamas Says Weapons Are 'Legitimate Right'

A Palestinian amputee walks in Yafa street among the destroyed Al Mahata mosque and destroyed buildings, in Al Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, 13 December 2025, near the yellow line amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A Palestinian amputee walks in Yafa street among the destroyed Al Mahata mosque and destroyed buildings, in Al Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, 13 December 2025, near the yellow line amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Hamas Says Weapons Are 'Legitimate Right'

A Palestinian amputee walks in Yafa street among the destroyed Al Mahata mosque and destroyed buildings, in Al Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, 13 December 2025, near the yellow line amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A Palestinian amputee walks in Yafa street among the destroyed Al Mahata mosque and destroyed buildings, in Al Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, 13 December 2025, near the yellow line amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Hamas' Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that the group had a "legitimate right" to hold weapons and that any proposal for the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire must uphold that right.

"Resistance and its weapons are a legitimate right guaranteed by international law and are linked to the establishment of a Palestinian state," said al-Hayya in a televised address on the militant group's Al-Aqsa TV.

"We are open to studying any proposals that preserve this right while guaranteeing the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Al-Hayya also confirmed that the head of the group's weapons production was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip the day before.

"The Palestinian people are currently going through difficult times and suffering greatly... with the martyrdom of more than 70,000 people, the latest of whom was the mujahid commander Raed Saad and his companions."

Israel announced on Saturday that it had killed Saad, describing him as "one of the architects" of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since the Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October this year.

Arab World

Algeria’s Kabylie Unites against MAK Separatist Project

Activists rally in Bejaia against separatist project, private accounts
Activists rally in Bejaia against separatist project, private accounts
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Algeria’s Kabylie Unites against MAK Separatist Project

Activists rally in Bejaia against separatist project, private accounts
Activists rally in Bejaia against separatist project, private accounts

Algeria’s Kabylie region is witnessing unusual momentum and activity, marked by initiatives opposing a separatist group’s plan to proclaim an “Independent State of Kabylie” on Sunday in France.

The move is one chapter in ongoing tensions with Algeria, which accuses Paris of “harboring enemies of its territorial unity.”

In Bejaia province, about 250 km east of Algiers and the largest city in Kabylie, residents and local groups have launched a series of initiatives in recent days to express their rejection of any proposal that undermines national unity.

The national flag has been widely hung from the facades of homes and shops, while taxis and public and private transport vehicles have also been decorated with the flag, creating a scene dominated by national colors across the city’s streets and neighborhoods.

Rejecting any threat to national unity

Coinciding with the anniversary of demonstrations held in 1960 during Algeria’s war of independence from France from 1954 to 1962, the Bejaia Directorate of Youth and Sports organized a convoy of cars adorned with national flags on Thursday.

The convoy set off from the city center and passed through several streets and villages under the slogan “Algeria is one and united,” under the supervision of local authorities.

In the same context, a real estate developer raised the national flag on the main facade of one of the city’s largest residential complexes, a 28-story building, in a move that drew positive reactions from residents and was seen as another expression of attachment to national symbols.

Bejaia’s neighborhoods have also witnessed a form of symbolic competition through the display of flags of varying sizes.

A large flag was raised in November 1, 1954 Square, with announcements of further initiatives to unfurl a massive flag atop Mount Gouraya, the city’s most prominent tourist landmark, with the participation of several local associations.

Bejaia University students issued a statement rejecting the separatist project carried by the Movement for the Self Determination of Kabylie, known by its French acronym MAK.

They reaffirmed their commitment to “the unity and sovereignty of Algeria” and called for confronting what they described as “narratives that undermine national cohesion,” referring to the planned declaration of an “Independent State of Kabylie,” which MAK says it will announce on Sunday in Paris under the leadership of its head, Ferhat Mehenni, who is wanted in Algeria on terrorism charges.

In the same vein, a number of intellectuals and activists in Bejaia expressed similar positions through statements and comments, while a popular gathering is expected to be held near the House of Culture on Sunday to voice opposition to the move.

The local journalists’ organization in Bejaia also announced its rejection of “any plan targeting the country’s unity,” stressing in a statement that “preserving a unified Algeria is a collective responsibility that is not open to compromise.”

Calls to confront MAK

Abdelkader Bengrina, head of the pro-government National Construction Movement party, said on Saturday during a meeting with party officials that “what this terrorist movement is attempting today is a desperate effort to turn back the clock and revive colonial ambitions that were buried decades ago.”

He added that “their determination to declare the independence of Kabylie from Algeria is nothing more than a new chapter in a farcical play aimed at testing the pulse of the Algerian nation and dragging the country into chaos.”

“We are fully confident that our security forces will strike with an iron fist against the plans of this movement and its operational cells wherever they exist, within the framework of the law,” he said.

Bengrina implicitly accused France of hosting separatists and their project, saying that “some European capitals are crying foul these days when one of their agents is exposed while posing as a tourist, even though his mission was to promote separatist discourse and encourage chaos.”

He was referring to French journalist Christophe Gleizes, who was sentenced by a court in Tizi Ouzou to seven years in prison on charges of “maintaining links with a leader of the Movement for the Self Determination of Kabylie.”

By contrast, Mehenni said in comments to the media in France, where he lives as a political refugee, that “there is no turning back,” arguing that “the policies pursued by Algeria in Kabylie since 1963 make independence the only solution.”

The movement was founded in 2001 following deadly clashes between security forces and segments of the Kabylie population that left 160 people dead.

Initially advocating autonomy, it later shifted toward full secession.

In May 2021, Algerian authorities designated the group a “terrorist organization,” accusing its members of planning violent acts and receiving foreign funding.

The movement relies heavily on emigrants originating from Kabylie, particularly in France and North America, but has little presence inside Algeria.

Authorities have arrested many of its members in the three Kabylie provinces of Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia and Bouira, all east of the capital, including MAK’s representative in the region, Bouaziz Ait Chebib.

Deep rooted political forces in the region have strongly rejected the separatist step, led by the Socialist Forces Front, which condemned what it described as “a separatist project that undermines Algeria’s national unity.”

Arab World

Libya’s Sabratha on Alert after Killing of Militia Figure ‘Al-Amo’

Members of the Apparatus for Combating Security Threats (file photo)
Members of the Apparatus for Combating Security Threats (file photo)
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Libya’s Sabratha on Alert after Killing of Militia Figure ‘Al-Amo’

Members of the Apparatus for Combating Security Threats (file photo)
Members of the Apparatus for Combating Security Threats (file photo)

Security forces fanned out across the coastal city of Sabratha, 70 km west of Tripoli, after militia leader Ahmed al-Dabbashi, known as al-Amo, was killed during a raid, triggering clashes that left two members of a state security body dead, residents and officials said.

Witnesses reported a heavy security presence across the Libyan city on Saturday, as the Apparatus for Combating Security Threats, a formation aligned with the Government of National Unity, said it had established control over Sabratha after neutralizing al-Amo.

The apparatus said late on Friday that two members of its western branch died of their wounds after what it described as an attack by criminal groups loyal to al-Amo near a traffic light by the city hospital. It said the deaths would be recorded in its roll of military honor, and vowed to keep pursuing anyone it deems a threat to Libya’s security.

Earlier, the apparatus said al-Amo was killed when its units stormed a hideout used by his network. It said his brother, Saleh al-Dabbashi, was arrested and that six of its personnel were seriously wounded and taken to intensive care.

A Libyan security source, speaking to local media on condition of anonymity, said the Defense Ministry in the Tripoli-based government was reviewing the situation after losing influence in several districts from Janzour in the east to the outskirts of Ajilat in the west.

The source accused the ministry of having previously backed and directed al-Amo to tie down forces from the nearby city of Zawiya on Sabratha's western flank. The Defense Ministry did not immediately comment.

Although the apparatus is an official body within the unity government, it operates with a degree of autonomy in the field, putting it in frequent friction with Defense Ministry-aligned formations in western Libya. The apparatus’s deputy chief is Mohamed Bahroun, known as “al-Far,” a powerful figure in the west.

Strategic coastal hub

Sabratha sits on the main coastal highway that runs from the Tunisian border through western towns to Zawiya and Janzour on the approaches to Tripoli.

Control of the city confers leverage over a vital overland supply route between Tunisia and the capital, and helps block any western advance toward Tripoli.

Sabratha also offers access to a small port and lies close to energy infrastructure, including the strategic Mellitah oil and gas complex.

Since 2014, the city has been a flashpoint for competing authorities in Tripoli and their allied local forces, as well as factions aligned with eastern-based rivals.

It has seen repeated bouts of fighting and shifts in control, most dramatically in 2016 when ISIS briefly seized the city before being driven out with US air support. The episode cemented Sabratha’s weight in both local and international security calculations.

In recent years Sabratha has become a center of gravity for the Apparatus for Combating Security Threats, which reports to the Interior Ministry. That presence has fueled regular friction with Defense Ministry units and long-standing local militias.

Power balance shifts

Analysts say the killing of al-Amo and the apparatus’s subsequent sweep through the city mark a sharp turn in the local balance of power, strengthening the apparatus while dealing a blow to Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibah’s government west of the capital.

The developments came as al-Dbeibah inaugurated Libya’s National Museum in Tripoli on Friday evening at an event attended by foreign diplomats, describing the museum as a repository of national memory and a legacy for future generations.

Al-Dabbashi, long wanted internationally on allegations of human trafficking and narcotics smuggling, retained loyalists in and around Sabratha despite periodic crackdowns.

His death, the arrest of his brother, and the deployment of state units across key intersections suggest an effort by the apparatus to consolidate control and deter reprisals.

The situation in Sabratha remained tense on Saturday, residents said, with security units maintaining checkpoints and patrols along the coastal road and within the city.