GBC News: The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, called on Tuesday to hold a parliament session next Thursday, to be devoted to electing a new president.
A statement issued by Berri’s media office said that the parliament speaker “called on the deputies to hold a session at eleven o’clock in the morning on Thursday, September 29, 2022, in order to elect a president of the republic.”
On the first of September, the constitutional deadline for the election of a new President of the Republic by members of the House of Representatives began and ends on October 31.
Accordingly, Lebanon is preparing for the constitutional process that must take place before the end of President Michel Aoun’s term, which has completed 6 years since 2016, which was fraught with crises.
According to the practice in Lebanon, the president’s term of office lasts 6 years, non-renewable, and he may not be re-elected until 6 years after the end of his first term.
According to the constitution, the president is elected by secret ballot by a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives in the first session, while an absolute majority (half + 1) is sufficient to elect him in the voting cycles that follow.
The constitution does not obligate those wishing to fight for the presidency to submit nominations in advance. The 128 members of parliament are the ones who elect the president, meaning any deputy can elect any Lebanese Maronite, provided that nothing prevents or contradicts basic conditions such as age and criminal record.
Anatolia