REPORT: Legislative session convenes at Parliament

Sources close to House Speaker Nabih Berri ​told LBCI Wednesday that the Liberation and Development bloc will participate in the upcoming ​parliamentary session set to elect a new president, adding, however, that Berri will vote against ​Change and Reform bloc head MP Michel Aoun moving to the opposition group, and that he will probably not nominate Saad Hariri as Prime Minister.

Sources also said that this session will not be postponed, calling on politicians to meet in order to discuss and find a settlement over the current issues.

 

Lebanese ​MPs gathered on Wednesday for a legislative session to pass urgent draft laws amid the country’s ongoing presidential vacuum.

 

During the session, the Parliament decided to reduce fees paid by citizens to municipalities. It also passed an anti-gunfire law ​that would see offenders pay a high penalty or face time in prison.

MP Nawwaf Mousawi from Hezbollah said during a press conference in Parliament that a law to facilitate efforts to de-pollute the Litani River was passed.​

 

Prior to session, Berri said that he will not vote for MP Michel Aoun, adding that he will join the ranks of the opposition "shall Aoun be elected as president."

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“I am not the one obstructing the election of a president, and if I ever planned to do so, I would not have attended previous election sessions,” Berri added.

Earlier, Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan asserted that the next parliamentary session tasked to elect a new session will not be postponed.

 

Adwan also noted that his party will partake in today’s session in order to discuss only the “financial laws” and the new electoral law.

 

For his part, LF MP Antoine Zahra said that the LF’s participation in today’s session aims at facilitating the election of a new president.

 

On another note, Free Patriotic Movement MPs held a meeting in the Parliament prior to the session.