News / Lebanon

Lebanon’s Berri urges swift govt. formation, anti-graft fight

Wednesday, 09 November 2016 6:48 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 November 2016 6:50 PM ]

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri gestures at the presidential palace near Beirut, Lebanon, on November 3, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for the prompt establishment of a new government and an ensuing anti-corruption fight in the Middle Eastern country.

Berri said he hoped that the new administration would begin performing its official tasks before November 22 in a bid to start work on replacing the 1960s law with a new electoral legislation, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported on Wednesday.

The 1960s law divides Lebanon into five areas and further into multiple districts, allowing the election of a total of 128 MPs to the legislature.

However, a proportional system has been proposed, under which parliamentary seats would only be split between the candidate lists based on the vote.

Berri, who supports the initiative, expressed hope that all public issues in Lebanon would be resolved under the leadership of the new government.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (L) meets with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri at the presidential palace near Beirut, Lebanon, on November 3, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Last week, Lebanon’s parliament elected Michel Aoun, a Christian leader and strong ally of the Hezbollah resistance movement, as president, ending a vacuum in the post that had been dragging on since April 2014.

He has tasked Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, a Western-backed Sunni politician, with setting up a government.

Lebanon is expected to hold parliamentary elections in May 2017, the first legislative vote in the country in eight years.

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