Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the recent criticisms that the Muslim powers in Lebanon hold sway over naming presidential candidates in the country in the wake of an initiative launched by Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri to nominate Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh as president, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Monday.
The speaker's visitors told the daily that “Berri considers such claims as a sectarian lie.”
He instead stressed that Franjieh's nomination adheres to meetings held under the sponsorship of the Maronite patriarchate that brought together the four main Maronite powers in the country, Franjieh included.