The 11th presidential election session did not yield any new developments, as its events and results were a monotonous repetition of previous sessions, reflecting the waiting state experienced by most political forces and parliamentary blocs. They are either awaiting anticipated developments in the internal situation or waiting for external positions from capitals engaged with Lebanese affairs. Notably, the election results saw a decline from the previous session's forties to the thirties, concerning both blank votes and the number of votes gained by candidate MP Michel Moawad, while the number of invalid ballots slightly increased.
However, a significant marker in yesterday's session was the failure of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to schedule a new session. A group of "change" MPs initiated a sit-in in the parliamentary session hall, demanding the announcement of open sessions until a new president is elected. Simultaneously, popular movements emerged in the streets of Beirut and other regions, some in solidarity with the sit-in MPs and others protesting the deteriorating living conditions due to the ongoing rise in the dollar’s price, which surpassed fifty thousand Lebanese pounds. Observers do not rule out the continuation of these movements, which could become a pressure factor on the political system to elect a president and form a new authority that will begin to address the collapse.
It seems that it is the week of political surprises, which has not yet concluded. After the Cabinet session and the uncalculated steps it included, the turn for presidential election sessions has come. Far from the fruitless constitutional debates that characterized some previous sessions, the matter has evolved into practical steps represented by the positions of the "Democratic Gathering," which threatened to boycott presidential election sessions to break the stalemate. MPs Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba declared their decision to remain on a sit-in in the hall until a president is elected. They were joined by MPs Bouley Yakoubian, Halima Qaqour, and Cynthia Zarazir. The Kataeb MPs Selim Saïgh and Elias Hankach also joined them for a time before leaving.
Regarding these developments, a parliamentary source from the March 8 bloc told "Al-Jumhuriya": "From now on, we will see more pressing positions in an attempt to break the stereotypical image that accompanied the previous ten sessions." However, he emphasized that these issues would lead to nothing at all because Lebanon is far from any settlement. These positions, under the current circumstances, cannot induce dragging to the table."
The source added: “Certainly, any pressuring position aimed at urging the election of a president is welcome, provided it is not about populism and the attempt to regain the lost street due to entering the political game and committing one mistake after another.” He noted that "even if the number of sit-in MPs inside the hall reaches thirty or even a hundred, without serious dialogue or agreement on a president, no name will achieve the two-thirds or even a simple majority without understandings."
In the same context, parliamentary circles belonging to one of the March 8 blocs considered the sit-in by some change MPs in Parliament until a president is elected "nothing more than a farcical and weak political theater, as this is not how a president is elected." They questioned through "Al-Jumhuriya": “How can someone who behaves so frivolously be a legislator?” These circles suggested that Speaker Nabih Berri might not call for a new election session next week if matters remain unchanged without any positive breakthrough, noting that repeating sessions amidst stagnation would be futile.
