Berri pushes for rapid dialogue, promising presidential election soon

Lebanon's Parliament speaker, Nabih Berri (a close ally of Hezbollah and Iran) reiterated Saturday his call for "dialogue" between the various political parties in order to break the deadlock in the country's presidential election, arguing that if they engaged in his proposed dialogue, they could elect a president "in less than 10 days." Berri's remarks were made in an interview published on Saturday by the Arabic-language daily al-Joumhouria.

"We can elect a president in less than 10 days through rational and objective dialogue …. Ultimately, we won't be able to escape the dialogue table and discussions to put an end" to the presidential vacuum, Berri added.

Lebanon has been without a head of state since the end of October 2022 when Michel Aoun's term of office expired. Since then, 12 electoral sessions have been held by Parliament but none have met with success due to a lack of political consensus on the future president.

Hezbollah and Berri's party the Amal Movement remain committed to Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy and are calling for a dialogue under the aegis of the head of parliament to break the deadlock. 

Opposition parties continue to reject the proposed seven-day dialogue, followed by electoral sessions with successive rounds of voting.