BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 23 (UPI) -- Lebanese lawmakers are set to re-elect the Parliament speaker and nominate Saad Hariri as prime minister at their Thursday session, officials say.
Abdel Latif al-Zein, the oldest lawmaker in the Lebanese Parliament, called on lawmakers to nominate the speaker of the next government at their Thursday session.
The confessional political system in Lebanon requires a Maronite Christian president, a Sunni prime minister and a Shiite speaker of Parliament.
The Lebanese Daily Star reports Nabih Berri runs unopposed for the position of Parliament speaker while Saad Hariri will be nominated as the next prime minister when he returns from meeting with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
Saad Hariri led his Western-backed March 14 coalition to victory in the June 7 parliamentary elections over the opposition March 8 slate. He is the son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Analysts and observers of the Lebanese political system expected Beirut would face difficulties forming a unity government in the wake of the elections.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, elected in 2008 on a non-renewable six-year term, said there would be a new government soon.
