Speaker of the House Nabih Berri has called for a parliamentary session at "11:00 AM on Thursday, November 3rd, to read and discuss the message from the President." In his message, President Michel Aoun requested that the House of Representatives revoke the mandate granted to Prime Minister Najib Mikati, accompanying the signing and publishing of the decree accepting the government's resignation before leaving the Baabda Palace. The timing of this message, which coincides with Mikati's message to the Speaker, raises many questions about how the council and its head will address both messages and the resulting implications of this step.
Despite several legal and constitutional sources considering Mikati's message to be "symbolic and without legal effect unless he has begun exercising presidential powers early," some do not mind discussing its content, especially as it is related to the substance of the President's message and serves as a response to it. In light of Berri's positions, who considers "the constitution sacred in the system, and that what Mikati has done affirms his commitment to running affairs following the President's issuance of the decree accepting the government's resignation," insiders familiar with his approach in such situations assert that he will not allow the discussion of Aoun's message on Thursday to turn into an "Akka session." For this purpose, he will not permit the session to be broadcast live by the media, as was the case with the sessions on May 21 and 22, 2021, which were dedicated to discussing a similar message.
Berri believes that the government is resigned according to Article 69 of the constitution, which outlines the conditions under which it is deemed resigned, including parliamentary elections, and that this does not require a decision. Legal and rights sources following the matter assert that the important aspect of Thursday's session is the nature of the decision or action that the House of Representatives will take. The message discusses the interpretation of Article 62 of the constitution in a way that implies an implicit amendment to the constitution, thus requiring a two-thirds majority for modification according to Berri's interpretation, which is, of course, unavailable in the current council's composition and may serve as the exit title at the end of the session.
The same sources recall a letter Aoun sent to the House of Representatives in 2019, requesting an interpretation of Article 95 of the constitution and the mechanism for dealing with it. Other sources argue that "the House of Representatives must convene to elect a president according to Article 75 of the constitution and therefore cannot discuss any other matter." They question, "How will the council discuss a message from someone who is no longer in office? What is happening is nothing but political malice and time-wasting."
Conversely, each political party or team will approach the session differently, but they emphasize respecting the constitution, within the framework of confronting all attempts to undermine the Taif agreement that lasted six years and culminated in President Michel Aoun's final political declaration, according to member of the "Democratic Gathering" MP Bilal Abdullah.
Aoun’s message to the House of Representatives is the fourth of its kind; his first message was dated July 31, 2019, requesting an interpretation of Article 95 of the constitution, while the second was on November 24, 2020, requesting an interpretation regarding "forensic auditing."
While the schedule for discussing the first message was postponed twice without a new date set, the council discussed the second message during a session held on November 27, 2020, at the UNISCO Palace, and decided that forensic auditing should encompass all ministries and public institutions in parallel, not just the Central Bank. The third message was similar to the last one, in requesting the withdrawal of the mandate from the then-designated Prime Minister Saad Hariri. A session was held over two days on May 21 and 22, 2021, to read and discuss the message at the UNISCO Palace, resulting in urging the formation of a government as soon as possible.
Regardless of different interpretations regarding the timing of Aoun's message and how the House of Representatives would handle it, and apart from the outcomes expected from the session, which will likely only include acknowledgment and recommendations to the government and its president to respect constitutional texts in exercising powers, it may be beneficial to recall the events of the parliamentary session held on August 21, 1990, during which the establishment of the Constitutional Council was discussed. The discussions revealed a near consensus among the deputies who requested to speak that the right to interpret the constitution belongs solely to the House of Representatives and cannot be relinquished in favor of any other authority.
