Berri's effort to hold dialogue session faces Christian opposition

Until Sunday evening, optimism was growing about the possibility that Nejmeh Square would witness the first national dialogue session next Thursday. Still, the Speaker of parliament's effort differs from some parties, specifically the Christians.

Until now, it seems that Thursday's session will be the tenth session to elect a president for the republic in light of the Christian blocs not accepting any dialogue "that is not considered in all its aspects."

This matter was expressed by the head of the Strong Lebanon bloc, MP Gebran Bassil, in his interview with LBCI, which indicates that the position of his bloc will not be positive. According to what sources in the Strong Lebanon bloc say to LBCI, this refusal position is linked to several considerations, foremost of which is what happened in the matter of the government.

As for the Lebanese Forces, its sources confirmed to the LBCI that if a dialogue session replaces the electoral session on Thursday, the Lebanese Forces will not participate. 

The party adheres to its position regarding the duality between the election of the president and the dialogue process, meaning that after the end of the first election session, the Speaker of the Parliament does not close the session and invites the blocs to discuss in his office, and then returns to continue the second session out of respect for the democratic electoral mechanism stipulated in the constitution.

Accordingly, even if the rest of the blocs agreed, the possibilities of holding the dialogue are almost nonexistent. All of this will be formally decided by the Speaker of the Parliament in the coming hours.