Berry sets a parliamentary session for January 9 with a view to the election of a President of the Republic

While the country has been without a President since October 31, 2022, the President of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berry, has set a new session for Thursday, January 9, 2025, for the election of a head of state.

At the start of a parliamentary legislative session, which opened with a minute of silence for the dead of the war between Hezbollah and Israel, the president of Parliament declared: “I swore to myself that as soon as the ceasefire, I will set the date of a session to elect a President of the Republic, I therefore announce a session on January 9.” The ceasefire came into effect overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday at 4 a.m. Berry also affirmed that this “next session of the presidential election will be fruitful, God willing,” and that he will invite “ambassadors to attend.”

“Putting an end to the destructive dynamic” in Lebanon

For his part, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who chairs the Finance and Budget Committee in Parliament, recalled the importance of discussions on the future of the country. “We are with everything that allows us to avoid a void. Lebanon cannot continue with a vacancy in the presidency, in the army and in the institutions. We must put an end to the destructive dynamic of the country,” declared the MP according to the National Information Agency (Ani). Parliament is currently meeting to vote, in particular on the extension of the mandate of the heads of Lebanese security organizations, including the commander-in-chief of the army, Joseph Aoun.

Lebanon has been without a President for more than two years now. Since the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate, differences between Hezbollah and the rest of the Lebanese political class have prevented the election of a head of state. The last time a parliamentary session was convened, on October 22, 2024, the session did not take place due to lack of quorum. Only 49 of the 128 deputies then responded to the summons from the President of Parliament, well below the 65 required.

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The last electoral session, the 12th since November 2022, was held on June 14, 2023. With 51 votes out of 128, Sleiman Frangié, the candidate of the Amal-Hezbollah tandem, had defied the forecasts, which predicted barely 45 votes for him. His rival, Jihad Azour, had rallied 59 deputies (even 60, one ballot having been “lost”). While the opposition camp wanted to see Sleiman Frangié symbolically disqualified by his score, the efforts of the Shiite tandem to reduce the gap between the two men seemed to have borne fruit.

Visit by Jean-Yves Le Drian

The announcement of the presidential election session took place while French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian is visiting Beirut as part of his efforts to unblock the political crisis. In this context, the senior diplomat met on Thursday morning with former Aounist deputies Elias Bou Saab, Ibrahim Kanaan, Alain Aoun and Simon Abi Ramia, in the presence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, Hervé Magro. He discussed with them “developments after the ceasefire, the political path and the priority of the election of a President of the Republic”, according to a press release. The French envoy also met MP Sajih Attiyé, representative of the National Moderation Bloc, made up of former members of the Future movement.

“The discussion focused on the need to accelerate the election of the President of the Republic, while the Quintet confirmed its strong desire to resolve the Lebanese crisis,” according to a press release published by the MP’s press office. The Quintet is a committee made up of representatives from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

After attending part of the discussions of MPs during the legislative session held today, Mr. Le Drian met Nabih Berry in Parliament. They reviewed the latest political developments and the presidential election file, as well as the evolution of the situation in Lebanon following the entry into force of the ceasefire, in the presence of the French delegation, the French Ambassador to Lebanon Hervé Magro and Mr. Berry’s advisor, Ali Hamdan.

During the day, Nabih Berry met Prime Minister Nagib Mikati and received a telephone call from Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati, according to the official National News Agency (ANI).

The Maronite deputy of Kesrouan, Neemat Frem, also had an interview with Mr. Le Drian, according to a publication by Mr. Frem on X. The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (CPL) Gebran Bassil, who is abroad, spoke at length on the telephone with Jean-Yves Le Drian, who explained to him the nature of his mission in Lebanon. The two men decided to continue contacts.

Mr. Bassil also called the head of Parliament Nabih Berry and the outgoing Prime Minister Nagib Mikati to congratulate them on the occasion of the ceasefire in Lebanon, hoping that “everyone has learned lessons from what ‘has passed’.

The President of Parliament, in charge of negotiations for a ceasefire on the Lebanese side, insisted this Wednesday in a televised speech on the urgency of quickly electing a president who “is not considered a challenge for anyone”. Speaking shortly after Nabih Berry, the outgoing Prime Minister, Nagib Mikati, for his part hoped for the opening of a “new page” in the history of Lebanon and the upcoming election of a head of state. .