National Dialogue Kicks Off in Ain el-Tineh as Berri Stresses Need for 'Package Deal'

The national dialogue sessions between heads of the parliamentary blocs kicked off on Tuesday at Speaker Nabih Berri's residence in Ain el-Tineh to address a number of thorny issues that include the election of a president, the formation of a new government and a new voting system.

Berri inaugurated the session by “reiterating the need to agree on a package deal that begins with the election of a president.”

Progressive Socialist party leader MP Walid Jumbalt said: “There are some obstacles but things need patience. I agree with Berri on the necessity to carry on with the dialogue.”

Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan stated after the meeting: “If we fail to reach a serious breakthrough in the election law we will return back to square one.”

Berri had voiced expectations that a progress in the talks between the conflicting parties ranges from “zero percent to 100 percent,” although he did not consider the dialogue to be the last chance but more as an important opportunity that the interlocutors must seize to solve their differences, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Sources from Ain el-Tineh told the daily that “the path of the discussions is not clear,” pointing out that “Berri will open the debate in all directions in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough starting from the electoral law which could be a getaway for a solution.”

The source added that the first day of the successive talks will determine the fate of the following sessions.

Berri has called for the August 2, 3 and 4 dialogue sessions in a bid to resolve several stalled issues in the country.

The speaker has proposed a package deal that involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government.

Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.