I just watched (on TV) the new parliament re-elect Nabih Berri as Speaker. Berri has held this position since the early 90s, and has been the leader of Amal since 1980. The Lebanese Consitution says that the Speaker must be a Shi’a Muslim (and the President must be a Christian, and the Prime Minister must be a Sunni). Obviously, Berri is pro-Syria, but the anti-Syrians ended up supporting him in yet another somewhat confusing political move.

It was interesting to watch, because each member of parliament walked up to the front and placed a paper ballot into a ballot box. As soon as this was finished, the votes were immediately read out, one by one, live and on television. The whole process was over in a matter of minutes. Apparently, there was a lot of celebratory gunfire, but we didn’t hear any of it.

Another newsworthy event here in Lebanon- it has been decided that Palestinian refugees can now get work permits for certain clerical and manual labor jobs. The cynical view is that since many of the traditionally low paid Syrians returned to Syria because of the political situation here, now a new class of undercompensated workers is needed. On the other hand, at least it is finally legal for a 57 year old who was born in this country to hold a job.

UPDATE: I finally heard the gunfire, but it was far away and quickly drowned out by the call to prayer.