Berri tells advocates of simple majority: Don’t mess with me

Lebanon Speaker Nabih Berri  told the officials who are calling for the election of a head of state by simple majority not to mess with him and  vowed not to violate the Lebanese Constitution .

“Don’t try me and don’t mess with me,” Berri told the officials .

“Don’t mess with quorum. If you continue to do so, you would not be successful,” the speaker warned.

Among the advocates that are calling for   election of a head of state by simple majority is former Lebanese PM and Future Movement parliamentary bloc chief MP Fouad Siniora, who has said that there is no need for the presence of two-thirds of parliament’s 128 members to choose the country’s next president.

Berri vowed in remarks to As Safir daily published on Tuesday not to hit the gavel unless 86 MPs are present at the electoral session.

“I will not violate the Constitution,” he said.

The failure to elect a president has paralyzed the parliament and limited the functions of the government.

He expressed the same stance during a speech at a ceremony held on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Lebanese Tobacco and Tunbac Monopoly Department (Regie).

Berri said in his speech that Lebanon is doing much better security wise than the rest of the Middle Eastern countries and the world “due to our dialogue, unity, the army and security forces.”

He called Lebanon a “miracle,” saying only the Lebanese don’t know its value. “Arabs and Europeans love it more than us. Even God loves it more than us,” he said.

“Lebanon is an experiment for coexistence of religions and civilizations,” he said.

The Lebanese parliament failed again  on March 2 and for the 36th time in a row to elect a president to replace Michel Suleiman whose term ended on May 25 , 2014.

As in the past sessions the parliament was unable to reach a quorum because the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and its ally  Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc MPs boycotted the session, because they could not guarantee Aoun’s election as a president

Berri  postponed the election to March 23, 2016.

But according to Hezbollah chief there won’t be an election tomorrow .

In an interview on Monday with al Mayadeen  Nasrallah accused the Lebanese Forces of trying to stir a dispute between Hezbollah  and the Free Patriotic Movement.

“If we head to parliament, it is known that (FPM founder MP Michel) Aoun will not be elected,” Nasrallah noted, dismissing LF calls in this regard.