The newly elected Lebanese parliament will hold its first session on Wednesday to elect the house speaker, who is expected to be Nabih Berri, and a deputy speaker, while the attention is actually focused on the formation of the next government.
In the absence of competition for the speaker’s position, Berri is expected to receive more than the 90 votes he received in the previous elections, during which he did not win the support of the Reform and Change bloc, then headed by President Michel Aoun and currently known as “Strong Lebanon.”
Berri has occupied this position since 1992.
Meanwhile, Lebanese sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Hezbollah” and its allies were trying to obtain more than a third of ministerial portfolios, in proportion to their size at parliament, which constitutes more than one third of the seats.
This proportion will grant them a veto power, because the majority of decisions in parliament and the government need the approval of more than two thirds of members.
However, sources close to the Lebanese president played down the credibility of this information, noting that the blocs and alliances that resulted from the parliamentary elections have overcome the issue of this “veto bloc”.
Aoun is expected to call for parliamentary consultations stipulated by the Constitution to nominate a prime minister. They will probably begin on Monday, according to presidential sources.
Berri met on Monday with a delegation from the Strong Lebanon bloc, which included MPs Ibrahim Kanaan, Alain Aoun and Elias Bou Saab.
In remarks to reporters, Kanaan said: “The meeting was good and the new phase requires cooperation among all. The elections are now behind us.”
“Our hand will be extended to all, and Speaker Berri has maintained that cooperation is more than necessary,” he added.
