BEIRUT — Lebanese lawmakers reelected
Nabih Berri as
parliament speaker Tuesday for a seventh consecutive term, cementing his
reputation as an immovable centerpiece of the country’s political landscape.
اضافة اعلان
Berri’s candidacy went largely unchallenged but the
84-year-old clinched only the bare minimum number of votes needed for a win —
one of his lowest counts since he first rose to the helm of parliament 30 years
ago.
Some lawmakers spoilt their ballots by writing
slogans blaming the ruling class that Berri embodies for the successive crises
that have hit Lebanon, from the 2020 Beirut port explosion to political
assassinations and an ongoing economic meltdown.
“I will put the insults behind me … and approach
blank ballots with a blank heart,” Berri said after his victory, in one of his
trademark quips.
He said he would extend his hand to all lawmakers so
that, together, they can streamline overdue reforms and facilitate the
appointment of a prime minister and a new president.
“The
Lebanese, and the rest of world, are looking to
you as a beacon of hope, possibly the only one,” Berri told lawmakers. “We all
live if Lebanon lives.”
Aged 84, the warlord-turned-politician is one of the
longest-serving chiefs of any parliament in the world.
Spoilt ballots
An ally of the powerful
Shiite militant group
Hezbollah, Berri has weathered decades of turbulence and
shifting political tides, including the current economic crisis and a 2019
protest movement demanding wholesale political reform.
Even after
parliamentary elections in May yielded
modest but unprecedented gains for independent candidates, Berri’s position
remained largely unchallenged.
He clinched a new four-year term during parliament’s
opening session on Tuesday with the votes of just 65 of parliament’s 128
members. That was down from the 98 votes he secured in 2018.
Opponents spoilt their ballots with a variety of
political slogans.
“Justice for the victims of the Beirut blast,” read
one ballot, referring to a 2020 explosion at the capital’s port that killed
more than 200 people.
“Lokman Slim,” read several ballots, referring to a
Hezbollah critic who was found murdered in his car last year.
Berri will preside over a deeply fragmented
parliament prone to the kind of deadlock that has paralyzed
Lebanese politics
for decades.
Lawmakers will be called upon to push through
long-overdue reforms to stem a financial crisis that has plunged most Lebanese
into poverty.
Expected results
Berri’s
Amal Movement and
Hezbollah hold all 27 Shiite-allocated seats in parliament but lack an overall
parliamentary majority.
Berri’s reelection Tuesday was largely expected and
held within legal deadlines but intense political horse-trading is expected in
the coming months.
Observers have warned of protracted deadlocks during
consultations to name a new prime minister and in the run-up to an election
later this year to replace President Michel Aoun.
Ahead of Tuesday’s session, independent lawmakers
born out of the 2019 protest movement joined relatives of the victims of the
Beirut port blast in a symbolic march from the docks to parliament.
They chanted “revolution” as they passed by
Martyrs’ Square — the focal point of the 2019 protests.
“This square will be our reference,” said
independent lawmaker Firas Hamdan, who stepped into parliament for the first
time on Tuesday.
A lawyer by training, Berri won power as a militia
leader during the 1975–1990 civil war and transitioned to politics as the war
ended.
He was named minister several times between 1984 and
1992.
That year, in the first polls after the war ended, Berri was
simultaneously elected a member and speaker of parliament — the highest post
for a Shiite in the country’s sectarian political system.
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