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The Constitutional Council is scheduled to render a ruling today that will be decisive for the upcoming legislative elections. The Free Patriotic Movement last month lodged an appeal with the council to invalidate the amendments made to electoral law no. 44 of 2017. These changes entail moving up the date of the elections from May 2022 to March, as well as the removal of the six-seat specialized electoral district for expatriates — meaning these voters would instead cast ballots in Lebanon’s existing 15 constituencies. The FPM filed its appeal after Parliament had twice voted in favor of the amendments. If the council upholds the full appeal, all the amendments to the electoral law will be considered null. If the council accepts some of its clauses, Parliament will have to hold a session to amend the electoral law in light of this decision. If the FPM’s appeal is rejected, the amendments will be enforced. However, in all possible scenarios, parliamentary elections will not take place on March 27 if President Michel Aoun — who founded the FPM — does not by next Monday sign the decree that schedules the polls, because, as the law stipulates, this must be signed at least three months ahead of election day.

Rumors of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s imminent resignation surfaced briefly yesterday. Earlier in the afternoon, the premier reportedly held an unscheduled meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. This meeting came on the back of reports that a deal had been struck that would see the Constitutional Council accept the FPM’s appeal to invalidate the electoral law amendments in exchange for an agreement to limit Judge Tarek Bitar’s remit as head of the port blast investigation. Disagreement over Bitar’s leadership has paralyzed Mikati’s cabinet for more than two months over fears that its Amal and Hezbollah affiliated ministers would resign if the government did not take steps to address what they describe as the judge’s “politicization” of the probe. Bitar has sought to prosecute two Amal members as well as other senior politicians and security officials. As he left the meeting at Berri’s residence, a visibly flustered Mikati, when asked about the reported deal, responded that his cabinet “is not concerned”​​ with it. While Mikati neither denied the deal’s existence nor definitively asserted that he would not resign, he did issue a statement later last night saying that he will continue his efforts to resolve the “government suspension dilemma,” and that “any decision I take will be derived from my personal national values and my judgment of things.”

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a day after arriving in Lebanon, visited the site of the devastating Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion. “An impartial and transparent investigation into this tragic event is crucial to ensure justice. The Lebanese people deserve the truth,” he said, in a tribute to the more than 200 people who were killed in the blast. Guterres later met with religious leaders, before meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati separately. “I do believe that only [the] Lebanese can solve Lebanese problems, but I also do believe that the international community needs to strengthen its support to Lebanon to overcome the present very difficult circumstances,” Guterres said after meeting with Berri. Guterres is scheduled to hold a press conference today at 6 p.m. ahead of his departure from Lebanon on Wednesday morning.

The price of gasoline rose again this morning, while the prices of diesel fuel and cooking gas fell. The last price change occurred on Friday, only four days ago. Twenty liters of 95-octane gasoline now cost LL325,000, an increase of LL1,800 from Friday. Twenty liters of 98-octane gasoline cost LL336,400, an increase of LL2,000 from Friday. The price of diesel fuel, on the other hand, decreased by LL20,500 to reach LL337,100 per 20 liters, and household gas also decreased by LL14,900 to reach LL297,200.

In a move intended to expedite the availability of medications, the health minister announced yesterday plans for a streamlined registration process for imported drugs. During a press conference, Firass Abiad said that the “decision is a new step that helps provide medicine to the citizens faced with difficulties due to [the lifting of] subsidies.” Over the course of this year, access to medications has been disrupted by a combination of shortages — blamed by importers on delayed processing of subsidized payments by the central bank and by the state on hoarding and smuggling on the part of some importers — and soaring prices as subsidies were partially, and in some cases fully, removed. On the issue of cost, Abiad stated that the new system requires that the prices of the drugs be competitive with other available brands. In addition, laboratories where the imported medication is produced should be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency or the World Health Organization.

The head of the parliamentary health committee warned yesterday of the potential for a countrywide lockdown as hospitals’ COVID-19 units approach capacity. Assem Araji said in a radio interview yesterday that the occupancy rate of COVID-19 beds at hospitals across Lebanon has reached 80 percent, and in some areas, such as Akkar and Nabatieh, it is as high as 90 percent. If the number of reported cases continues to rise, he said, a countrywide lockdown will become inevitable. Araji also voiced concern about an increase in instances of COVID-19’s Omicron variant, which he explained is five to six times more infectious than the Delta variant.