by Youssef Hourani

Finding agreement on a name should be the first order of business of the first session of parliament after months of inactivity. Majority MPs announce their presencet, so do those from Amal. Hizbollah states it will participate only if an agreement has already been reached. Parliamentary Speaker Berri might visit Patriarch Sfeir, who renewed his appeal to the parties not to destroy the country.

Beirut (AsiaNews) – After months of inactivity Lebanon’s National Assembly is to reopen tomorrow. It will not however vote to elect a new president as scheduled, but will give lawmakers an opportunity to agree on the name of the new head of the state.

Sources close to the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir told AsiaNews that parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri will visit the patriarch in Bkerke before parliament opens to discuss the latest developments in the situation.

Members of parliament for Amal, an opposition Shia-based party led by Berry, said that they will be present in parliament whatever happens. MPs from the March 14 majority coalition also said they will be there.

After the murder of Antoine Ghanem last week, about 40 of them have been shut inside the Hotel Phoenicia for greater security.

A Hizbollah leader, Mohammad Fneich, said that his party’s 14 members will come to parliament only if an agreement on a name is reached; otherwise it will stay away from the meeting to prevent the house from reaching the two-thirds quorum.

For their part, Michel Aoun’s allies said they would vote only for him.

In the midst of this Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir made an appeal to the parties to stop destroying the country. In yesterday’s mass, which he celebrated in Bkerke, he expressed his concern for the parties, their refusal to talk to each other and listen to their conscience and God’s commandment which bans killing. “How long will this night last?” he asked.

Cardinal Sfeir again urged the country’s political leaders to contribute to Lebanon’s renaissance.

The prelate used the occasion to express his sympathy to the families who lost loved ones to assassins’ bombs, the latest being the eight victims who died with lawmaker Ghanem last Thursday. In his view they are the ones who will continue to pay the price for the spilling of innocent blood.

• lebanon
• presidential
• election
• national
• assembly
• march
• 14
• movement
• opposition
• michel
• aoun
• nasrallah
• sfeir
• hizbollah
• Antoine
• ghanem
• assassination
• bkerke