as the new speaker.
Yes, MP Nabih Berri who along with his Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah allies failed to win the majority in the new parliament on June 7 will be the only candidate for speaker. Berri who obstructed the election of the president for 2 years , who tried to bring down the government for 2 years , who along with his allies occupied downtown Beirut for 2 years , who closed the parliament from 2006 to 2008 and refused to call for any session, who along with his allies occupied west Beirut on May 7 , 2008 , who along with his Hezbollah allies unsuccessfully tried to occupy Mount Lebanon last May 2008 is being supported in his reelection bid by the two leaders that were targeted in the May 7 uprising : MP Saad Hariri and MP walid Jumblatt.
Welcome to Lebanon... where winners are losers and losers are winners
Many people in Lebanon will be asking today: What did we vote for?
March 14 alliance won the June 7th election , but it is the March 8th alliance that is declaring victory.
March 14 won 71 seats out of 128 member parliament , while March 8 won 57 . According to professor Ghassan Karam : "In any other country, all over the world, the winners would have proceeded to form the government, elect a speaker of the house and take steps to start implementing elements of their electoral campaign. But not in Lebanon, that would be too simple."
The story isn’t getting any better either
Berri who knows already he is the new speaker proceeded yesterday to talk about a fusion government . He told AFP let's forget there is a majority and a minority let's have a fusion government. "By fusion, we are not talking about having (a representation of) two-thirds, one third, half, more or less in the government. It means the termination of this division ...." He said
Similarly General Michel Aoun the biggest loser in the June 7th election is now talking about proportional representation in the government . The veto power ( one third plus 1 obstructing vote ) of the opposition that paralyzed the outgoing government is not good enough anymore for Aoun , he now wants 44.5 % ( 57/128 ) of the new government.
Perhaps this should serve as a wake up call for March 14 leaders
The question is what will March 14 leaders tell their constituents in 2013 if they don’t wake up and implement their electoral campaign of 2009?
Thursday
06:00 pm Safir : Lebanese government sources said the "Israeli side proposed to Lebanese army representatives to move the talks which solely focus on the implementation of UN resolution 1701 "to the bilateral political level between the governments of Lebanon and Israel."
05:40 Al-Arabiya TV broadcasted a message from Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi to the Iranian people on Thursday in which he urged his supporters to continue the peaceful protests. “I will not leave the arena open for those who rigged the elections,” he said. “I will expose those responsible for the disorder.” He added : “Threatening to prosecute me will not stop me from continuing legitimate protests. The Iranian authorities are responsible for the blood bath in Tehran.”
5:30pm NNA reported "unusual" activities by the Israeli army at the border with the deployment of Merkavas and troop carriers.
5:20pm LF leader Samir Geagea called for the arrest of all those who fired celebratory gunshots following Berri's reelection.
05:pm Fire erupted near the garbage landfill in Dora and the army helicopters are trying to extinguish it
4:15pm Hezbollah denounced in a statement the "terrorist" explosion that targeted the Iraqi Sadr city. It warned against "being dragged into a plot to sow disunity."
04:12pm Siniora and salloukh met to discuss the general situation
O3:35pm Berri told al al Manar : I hope to be able to be worthy the trust the people put in me. Hariri will be named the premier after the consultations
03:14pm Siniora the election victory was a victory for the state and I pledge to work hard to make sure the state is the only authority in Lebanon
03:10pm The presidential palace started preparing list of parliamentary blocs for consultations over the naming of premier
03:09pm Five people injured as a result of celebratory gunfire following Speaker Nabih Berri’s re-election
02:59 pm President Suleiman to start premiership parliamentary consultations on Friday
02:11pm Germany ratifies a 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to pass it to UN chief within days
1:54pm President Michel Suleiman holds a closed door meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at Baabda palace.
1:30pm Parliament Speaker Berri accompanied by Parliament officials arrived to Baabda palace to meet President Michel Suleiman.
01:25pm STL launches secure website for individuals with valuable information. The website is available in the three official languages of the tribunal : Arabic, English and French. The English version is :
https://www.stl-tsl.org/action/submissionform
1:00pm Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc leader MP Walid Jumblat discussed current developments with Russian ambassador to Lebanon Sergei Boukin over lunch.
12:50pm Tor Sarkissian, Michel Moussa and Ahmed Fatfat get posts in new Lebanon Parliament.
12:45pm MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Antoine Zahra were elected Parliament Secretaries.
12:15pm Farid Makari was re-elected as deputy parliament speaker with 74 votes.
11:57 Parliament Members vote to elect a deputy speaker.
11:50 Speaker Berri addressed the parliament : Those who cast blank votes will re-elect me after four years. This parliament has to pave the way towards crossing to the state . He pledged that parliament would continue efforts to liberate Lebanese territories, work on removing mines and guarantee the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701.
11:30 The Lebanese Parliament re-elected Nabih Berri for a fifth term as Speaker with 90 votes and 28 blank ballots.
11:03 Voting for speaker started and MPs began casting their ballots.
10:59 MP Abdel Latif el-Zein called for ending division and urged unity and understanding during a speech in parliament. " The condition for success is security, stability, cooperation and consensus through dialogue , he said
10:45 MP Abdel Latif el-Zein opened the parliament session.
10:30 Army Commander Jean Kahwaji arrives at Nejmeh ( parliament ) Square
10:25 Oldest member of parliament Abdellatif al-Zein arrives at Nejmeh Square accompanied by outgoing PM Fouad Siniora
10:19 Al Rai: Hezbollah sources confirmed that the group supports Hariri as the new premier
10:12 Hezbollah bloc arrived at the parliament
10:09 Aoun arrived at the parliament
10:05 Al Qabas : Berri called on Jumblatt and an important Arab personality to convince Hariri to be the next prime minister
10:00 Jumblatt arrived at the parliament accompanied by members of the Democratic Gathering bloc
10:00 MPs began arriving in parliament to take part in the session to elect Nabih Berri as speaker.
9:15 Egypt’s criminal court upheld the death sentence against tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa and ex-police officer Mohsen al-Sukkari for killing Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim.
08:35 Carlos Eddé told "Voice of Lebanon:" We're sorry that there is only one candidate for the speakership and I call on all majority MPs to refrain from voting in order for Berri to succeed with votes of the opposition only
08:32 UNIFIL spokeswoman Bouzaiane: the Lebanese-Israeli military meeting was over the implementation of resolution 1701, particularly the violations of the Blue Line and the issue of the withdrawal of Israel from Ghajar village
08:25 MP Harb told "Voice of Lebanon:" There is an effort to avert the repetition of the atmosphere that prevailed before the election and its seems a calm atmosphere will prevail in the next phase
08:10 Jumblatt said to a close associate that he did not ask Hassan Nasrallah during their meeting to intervene and improve his relationship with Syria, as was widely reported by pro-Syrian press
07:41 "An-Nahar": "Al Mustaqbal MPs are expected to abide by the Hariri decision and fote for Berri , but the independents have the freedom to vote for anyone as they see appropriate
7:30am MP Yassine Jaber told VOL: Things look positive on cabinet formation. Consultations are focusing on the need for March 14 to drop its majority and the opposition to relinquish its veto power in return for giving the president a balancing share.
07:27 Berri will deliver a speech after his election, dealing with all issues raised, including the issue of the agenda of the parliament
07:11 Berri told An Nahar that he was satisfied with the meetings he held with Hariri and Hariri's position as a "positive and open"
07:00 Hariri wants to take his time in holding the consultations , expected to hold a meeting with Hassan Nasrallah and possibly Michel Aoun
06:44 Hariri said many deputies of March 14 expressed during yesterday's meeting at Quraithem their opposition to the election of Berri as speaker
06:39 MP Fattush was absent from the March 14 meeting at Quraithem to protest against the "kidnapping" of three members of his parliament bloc "Zahlah in our heart" by the Lebanese Forces
06:23 Berri is expected to win in the first round with one 110 votes
06:00 Berri is expected to inaugurate his fifth term as speaker by visiting Damascus and Riyadh
05:54 "As safir :" Hariri expressed his desire to head the government after the Doha accord but Ambassador Khoja said that Siniora's time is not up yet
Wednesday
7:35pm Foreign Relations Official in Hezbollah Ammar Moussawi met with French Ambassador to Lebanon Andre Paran.
7:28pm president Suleiman is currently meeting with Hariri at the Baabda Palace.
7:00pm MP Saad Hariri said he endorsed the reelection of Nabih Berri as parliament speaker and pointed to a "new era of dealings" prevailing in the country
6:10pm MP Hariri currently meeting with former Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tinah.
5:19pm MP Makari: We agreed to cooperate with all for the benefit of the Lebanese state. We named our parliamentary bloc “Lebanon Fir
