One of the two key problems facing the new Lebanese government is what to do about pro-Syrian President Lahoud and who to elect to the position of Parliament Speaker. The new parliament, which has not yet convened, has called on Lahoud to resign, a call he is obviously ignoring.

WASHINGTON (AFX) – Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who most of his parliament wants to resign, said he will remain in his post despite accusations he covered up assassinations.

‘I’m not resigning,’ he told CNN. ‘I’m staying until the end of my term.’

On Thursday, Lebanon’s new parliamentary majority called for Lahoud to resign, accusing him of covering up for a series of political assassinations targeting anti-Syrian figures.

How the new parliament will oust Lahoud remains to be seen. If it can be proven that he was involved in some way with the bombing that killed Rafik Hariri, he could be tried and removed by the Constitutional Court for treason. Otherwise, the situation may not be so easy.

Quite a few of the people in this new parliament are from the old, pro-Syria parliament, who themselves voted to constitutionally extend Lahoud’s term by three years (with Syrian strong-arming, of course). As far as I know, it will be very difficult for the parliament to cut off the extended term or force him to resign. If they fail to do so, and they may, their best bet is to form a government cabinet devoid of his influence so as to effectively neutralize the problem.

The parliamentary majority has also decided upon keeping Nabih Berri, an ally of Syria who has served every term since the end of the civil war.

Staunch Syrian ally Nabih Berri will keep his position as parliament speaker after the biggest bloc in the newly elected legislature supported his candidacy for the powerful post.

Saad al-Hariri, son of slain former premier Rafiq al-Hariri, on Sunday led a meeting late of his anti-Syrian coalition, the Future Movement, which agreed to back Berri for a new four-year term.

“After consultations with allied and friendly blocs, the Future parliamentary bloc announces that it members have decided to elect Nabih Berri as parliament speaker after he has promised to forge ahead with a reform programme …. and enable the new government to confront security, political, economic and social challenges in Lebanon,” the coalition said in a statement issued after the meeting held at Saad’s residence.

The 128-member parliament is to hold its first session on Tuesday to elect a speaker and get down to the business of nominating a premier who will form a Cabinet.

Constitutionally, the speaker of parliament must be a Shiite, which Berri is. Retaining him is obviously not the most welcomed outcome, especially in the view of the United States. However, due to the alliances formed between Amal-Hizb’allah and Hariri, he got the backing that he needed. Besides that, should Berri not be elected, the only other major Shiite group besides Amal is Hizb’allah. A candidate from them would be disastrous, as the speaker can halt legislation in its tracks (as Berri did with the rewriting of the electoral law). All in all, with Berri, he was the best of all the bad choices.