Elected 2009 Parliament Officially in Power, Saniora Cabinet Care Taker Government
The constitutional deadline for the 2005 parliament expired at midnight Saturday June 20, making the 2009 elected parliament officially in power and changing the Saniora cabinet into a de-facto care taker government two weeks following the legislative elections.
Parliament”s eldest member is MP Abdel Latif el-Zein, who now has 15 days to call parliament to session to elect a new speaker.
The only serious candidate for this post at the moment is Speaker Nabih Berri.
If confirmed, this would be Berri”s fifth term as parliament speaker. He has been in this post since 1992.
Zein told the daily An-Nahar that he plans to assume his duties in parliament Monday morning.
"I am not required to conduct consultations, I will call parliament to convene the soonest possible within the required 15 days to pave the way for forming a new cabinet," Zein said.
Zein told the daily pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat: " I won”t call parliament to convene immediately. However, I won”t exceed the deadline for doing so."
Adding: " I won”t call parliament to session unless matters mature."