Ongoing contacts focus quietly on electing a new parliament speaker and the shape of the next government. Consultations should pick up momentum following the return home of MP Saad Hariri, at the same time as Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly left Beirut for a European country believed to be Greece for a few-day holiday.
Senior sources from Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc said that Hariri is certainly to become Lebanon's next prime minister.
He said consultations with Opposition leaders as well as with the Mustaqbal bloc would resume following Hariri's return from a private visit to Saudi Arabia.

Thus, and in the light of these consultations, a picture should be composed concerning the speakership post and the shape of the new government. It is to be noted that the speakership post is almost concluded to Mr. Nabih berri after he got a full support from the opposition, the future block, the Democratic Gathering bloc in addition to a number of other MPs from the pro-government forces. Only Samir Geagea objected to such re-election, while the other group of March 14 that is also objecting will participate in the election with a white paper.
Parliamentary sources said that eldest MP Abdel Latif al-Zein would likely set June 25 as the date for a Parliament meeting to elect a new Speaker.

Furthermore, the long awaited meeting between Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah and PSP leader Walid Jumblat had finally took place last night... In the view of some observers, the orientation of Walid Jumblat towards Beirut’s southern suburb, and then to Damascus  as well as the sudden first of its kind meeting between Hezbollah MP Raad and the British Ambassador, is to facilitate the Hariri government task.

However, Thursday’s session did not go completely smoothly when the Christians of the majority launched a campaign against the Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in response to the saying that he did not understand the meaning of the Patriarch speech one night before the parliamentary election.
As a reminder, Sfeir have said on the night of the election that the winning of the opposition means the winning of Syria and Iran. Needless to say that the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir responded to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s Wednesday speech, saying Thursday night that the recent elections “have divided people into winners and losers, and of course, losers always find excuses to justify their defeat.”  Adding that he does not want “Lebanon to be outside Lebanon,” a reference to Hezbollah’s ongoing ties with Iran.
“Some people did not like our words while others did”, these are political issues that we do not want to interfere in, but we see that it is our duty to name things as they are,” he said in response to Nasrallah’s assertion that Sfeir has ignored the Israeli threat to Lebanon since the 1980s.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun immediately responded to Sfeir’s speech, without naming him, saying, “Church leaders have to beware of such disputes and speeches … If they want Lebanon to remain in Lebanon, they have to follow us.”

Another conflict has taken also place during the meeting. A fight reportedly broke out between Siniora and Energy Minister Alain Tabourian, reported An-Nahar on Friday. The dispute escalated until President Sleiman intervened to break it up. The two were apparently brawling over an item that was not on the agenda, and a battle of words ensued.

To sum up, some observers are predicting that the cabinet that has become a caretaker Cabinet may stay so for two months or more, if the Saudi- Egyptian weekend does not help creating the new cabinet.