'No dialogue, no president,' Berri says

"Without dialogue, there will be no president," pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Speaker Nabih Berri as saying.

The daily reported Friday that Berri thinks that "it's much easier today" as all parties, except one - the Lebanese Forces -, have agreed to participate in his dialogue initiative, including the Free Patriotic Movement.

"MP (and FPM leader) Jebran Bassil has finally said he supports dialogue after having refused it. I know that he opposes the election of (Marada leader and Hezbollah and Amal's presidential candidate) Suleiman Franjieh but this did not prevent him from vowing to attend the dialogue," Berri told al-Akhbar, adding that he still supports Franjieh.

The dialogue would be held for ten days, Berri explained, during which parties would agree on one candidate or suggest two or more candidates, and then they would go to vote in parliament. "On the tenth day we will have a President," he vowed.

Sixteen MPs would be invited to the dialogue, Berri added. These sixteen are the heads of the parliamentary blocs and not the parties' leaders.

LF leader Samir Geagea had said Thursday that he hopes Berri is following what is happening in France.

French parliamentarians at the National Assembly had re-elected Thursday a speaker after three rounds of vote.

"I hope you followed how voting at the National Assembly happened in an open session with successive rounds," Geagea told Berri, apparently blaming Berri for not calling for a session and his camp's MPs for leaving previous sessions before the second round of voting.