Introduction to the evening news 12-05-2012

Last week, a bet was laid on the cabinet’s capability to find an exit out of the expenditure crisis. The session ended but the crisis lingered. Today, the same scenario was played: a new bet was put on the Wednesday cabinet session. However, there is no indication that the session will be better than the previous one amid the absence of efforts and mediation.   

While the financial issue is stalled, the issue of legislative elections made it the forefront due to the stances put forth in this regard and not the agreements reached on the draft law upon which elections will be based.   

One of the main positions in this regard was that voiced by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who showed tendency towards proportional representation but without closing the door on other proposals.   

Former PM Saad Hariri spoke out against Nasrallah’s statement, saying “the same speech but on a different day […] ballot boxes reply best to [his] speech.”    

Meanwhile, two developments marked the Syrian events: first Al-Nusra Front’s claim for the Damascus twin bombing that occurred on Thursday and which resulted in the death of 55 people. While the second lies in the beginning of the Syrian National Council’s meetings in Rome to discuss the presidency of the council amid growing opposition to the renewal of the term of its current head, Burhan Ghalioun.