The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.
Speaker Nabih Berri told an-Nahar Daily that holding a parliamentary session to elect a new president will not prevent the deputies from holding legislative sessions, stressing that “these are two different matters.”
The newspaper reported that Berri’s remarks came after his call on the parliament to convene on April 23rd to elect a new president, raised controversy regarding a potential overlapping between the legislative and electoral sessions, given that the article 75 of the Lebanese Constitution stipulates that “the Chamber meeting to elect the President of the Republic shall be considered an electoral body and not a legislative assembly. It must proceed immediately, without discussion of any other act, to elect the Head of the State.”
According to the daily, the said controversy was raised after the Parliament voted on forming a committee to discuss the issue of the series of ranks and salaries within a two-week deadline.
The head of the National Struggle Front MP Walid Jumblatt told as-Safir Daily that he will not reveal the identity of the presidential candidate for whom he intends to vote, adding that “everybody will have to wait until the parliamentary electoral session.”
Commenting on the issue of the pay scale, Jumblatt said that the series of ranks and salaries must be “completely annulled, not amended,” reiterating his warning that passing the series will lead Lebanon to “a Greek scenario of economic and financial collapse.”
“The compensations allocated for the retirees in the series are enormous, compared to the financial capabilities of the state; we may have to allocate compensations for the dead too,” Jumblatt added sarcastically.
The head of the Future bloc Fouad Siniora told an-Nahar Newspaper that the parliamentary discussions regarding the series of ranks and salaries are not politicized, rejecting any accusations that the deputies are attempting the avoid their responsibilities.
In this regard, Siniora stressed that serious work will be done over the next two weeks in order to reach a solution that satisfies all the parties and serve the interest of the state’s treasury.
“The series draft law was wrongly discussed at first,” he noted.
Al-Joumhouria daily reported that contacts kicked off between Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and Hezbollah official in order to coordinate and discuss means to guarantee human corridors for the civilians trapped in the border town of Tfeil, noting that this town hosts large numbers of gunmen who fled the Syrian town of Rankous after it was captured by the Syrian army.
The daily added that the interior minister is suggesting sending buses to transport the Lebanese civilians, adding that the Lebanese Armed Forces will search the residents before allowing them to continue their path.