A veteran politician says, commenting on the spectacle of the first session of the new parliament, the election of the speaker of the parliament may be the easiest entitlement in the calendar of upcoming entitlements in which the deputies will have the first decision in.
The first of these entitlements is to assign a new prime minister, so far, there is no date for binding consultations, waiting to be determined by President Michel Aoun. In the meeting that brought together Aoun and President Nabih Berri after his election yesterday, this issue was discussed, and it was agreed that consultations would be close. On the other hand, he asserts that there are no political reasons behind not setting a date for consultations. Rather, the matter is related to the clarification of the image of the parliamentary blocs and the completion of the General Secretariat of the House of Representatives to prepare a list of the old, new and independent parliamentary blocs, before sending them to the Republican Palace, and this issue will need a few days, according to Baabda sources. Will the appointment process be easy, will there be a prior agreement on the name, and can the 65 MPs who voted for Berri meet on one name for the prime minister? It is possible if the Progressive Socialist Party decides to stay within the Hezbollah alliance. On the other hand, will the 63 MPs who said no to Berri, through the white paper or the strong republic paper and the justice paper, unite under one name to the prime minister? It may be too early to answer these questions, but it is certain that the proposal to float Mikati’s government by renewing confidence in it in the House of Representatives and transforming it into an actual government until the election of a President of the Republic, is not on the schedual, and there is nothing in the constitution called a flotation. The sources say, emphasizing that consultations are binding and must take place, and nothing is settled yet with regard to the proposed names. Which means, the expected worst-case scenario would be an assignment without authorship.