Berri: Parliamentary elections cannot be held before a constitutional council is established

Source: Nowlebanon.com, 6-10-2008
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that parliamentary elections cannot be held before a constitutional council is established.
Berri, in an interview with As-Safir newspaper, said the Constitutional Council should be re-established as soon as possible.
The 1989 Taif agreement called for the establishment of a constitutional council to "interpret the constitution, to observe the constitutionality of the laws, and to settle disputes and contests emanating from presidential and parliamentary elections."
However, in 1990 its mandate was modified by a parliament jittery over the idea of granting an independent body such power, and the first clause - regarding the council's authority to interpret the constitution - was removed.
The council was eventually dismantled by the parliament in 2005, and although then-President Emile Lahoud had asked the sitting members to keep working despite the council's dissolution, they chose to resign. Opposition members accused the March 14 coalition of dissolving the council for political gains.
Berri said that in the absence of a constitutional council, parliamentary elections could not be held. They would, he said, be void.