Under the law, setting the date of elections requires a decree signed by the interior minister, the prime minister and the president. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
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Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi yesterday signed a decree that effectively schedules the upcoming parliamentary elections for May 15, 2022. The decree also schedules the voting date for Lebanese expatriates on May 6, or May 8 in countries where May 6 is a holiday. Additionally, employees who are managing the elections will be scheduled to vote on May 12. Yesterday’s decree came as the final deadline passed for President Michel Aoun to agree to Parliament’s favored March 27 date. The elections were originally scheduled for May 8, but in October Parliament approved amendments that would make it possible for them to take place in March. Aoun opposed the March date arguing that it would exclude many new voters from participating in the elections because they would not be of legal age to vote. Under the law, however, setting the date of elections requires a decree signed by the interior minister, the prime minister and the president, who repeatedly signaled he would not sign a decree establishing a March date.
Schools will not shut down amidst a rise in COVID-19 cases, Education Minister Abbas Halabi said yesterday, calling the academic year a “red line.” Halabi called for restaurateurs as well as their customers to adhere to the government’s public health measures. “We will not lose the school year because of a relaxation in the level of precautionary measures in restaurants, bars and gathering places,” Halabi said. At the beginning of the month, the government announced new indoor capacity limits and a holiday season curfew on anyone who has not gotten at least one vaccine dose or received a negative PCR test result in the previous 48 hours. Yesterday, the Tourism Ministry announced that the Tourism Police had written 62 tickets against violating establishments to date, and ordered a number of them to close. The ministry’s violation count followed a statement from the head of the Restaurant, Café and Nightclub Owners’ Syndicate saying responsibility must also be shared with the state and customers. Education was severely disrupted during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years due to the pandemic and the other crises facing Lebanon.
In a speech last night President Michel Aoun called for an ‘urgent national dialogue’ to address decentralization, defense and an economic recovery plan. In his speech, Aoun expressed his support for “expanded administrative and financial decentralization” as the “main pillar” of a renewed Lebanese state. He also said that the country requires cooperation between the army, the people and the resistance but that only the state can set the nation’s defense strategy and ensure its implementation. The remark could be construed as a shot at his party’s powerful ally, Hezbollah, which opponents have accused of setting its own military policy that sometimes contradicts state policy. Lastly, Aoun called for an economic recovery plan, which should include determining responsibility for the country’s financial collapse. Aoun also called for the cabinet to convene, which it has not done for over two months amid deep divisions over the role of Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.
The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations wrote a letter of protest to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, denouncing Lebanon’s recent move to launch a tender for offshore drilling that includes disputed territory. The Israeli official called on Lebanon to withdraw this tender and “refrain from any activity that would advance any nonconsensual activities in Israeli maritime areas.” Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad announced at the end of November that he had signed a decision resetting the call for tenders. Exploration and drilling rights are up for grabs in eight blocks of marine territory. Of these blocks, numbers eight and 10 are located, at least in part, in a disputed area. Negotiations between Lebanon and the Israeli government to demarcate the maritime border started in October 2020 but have since stalled. In his letter, the Israeli diplomat also delivered what appeared to be a threat to companies that might take part in the tender in disputed areas, saying “such activity threatens to expose third parties to significant liability.”
Repair work on the Lebanese segment of the Arab Gas Pipeline is due to begin today, the Energy Ministry announced, as part of the US-backed plan to bring Egyptian natural gas to Lebanon. Meanwhile, the section of the pipeline in Syria, which was badly damaged by war, has been fully repaired and stands ready to transport gas, according to Syria’s Oil and Mineral Resource Minister Bassam Tohme. In addition to repairs on the Lebanese pipeline segment, the parties are still seeking assurance that they will not be penalized under the US sanctions regime, which prohibits a wide range of transactions with the Syrian government. The project also requires World Bank financing. In a recent press briefing, a senior US official said that the “very important” deal “is getting underway.” Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resource Minister Tarek el-Molla has said he expects the gas to flow during the first quarter of 2022.