GBC News: The Lebanese parliament, by a majority, elected Nabih Berri as its speaker, during Tuesday’s session, to take over the position he has held since 1992 for the seventh time in a row.
Berri got 65 votes out of 128, while 23 white papers were recorded and 40 others were canceled, while the Speaker of Parliament was the only candidate.
The “Lebanese Forces” party’s deputies were elected with a paper bearing the title of the “Strong Republic” bloc, in contrast to its previous decision to vote with a white paper.
Among the most prominent parties that announced not to vote for Berri for the presidency of the House of Representatives are the “Lebanese Forces” led by Samir Geagea, the “Lebanese Phalanges” led by Representative Sami Gemayel, and a number of independent representatives opposed to “Hezbollah” and its allies, and the “Free Patriotic Movement” led by Representative Gibran. Bassil, who indicated that he would not vote for Berri, knowing that a number of his non-partisan bloc deputies would vote for Berri in a step that was set within the framework of the settlement between Bassil and Berri, to endorse and exchange votes on the positions of the president and his deputy, according to “Arabi 21”.
According to the Taif Agreement concluded in 1990, which ended the civil war in the country, the Lebanese parliament includes 128 members, divided equally between Muslims and Christians, distributed according to the following sects: for Maronites, 34, for the year, 27, for Shiites, 27, for Greek Orthodox, 14, for Roman Catholics, 8. Deputies, the Druze have 8, the Armenians have 5, the Alawites have two, and each of the Armenian Catholics, the Gospels and minorities has one representative.
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