Acting Information Minister Abbas Al-Halabi. (NNA)
BEIRUT— Acting Information Minister, and Minister of Education and Higher Education, Abbas Al-Halabi announced after Friday's cabinet session that the Mikati government had “approved the postponement of municipal elections due to lack of [material] and human resources." The cabinet proposed to hold municipal elections on May 31, 2023, and referred the proposal to Parliament.
Here’s what we know:
• Proposals had been advanced for "megacenters" around Lebanon where voters, who don't necessarily reside in the municpalities where they are registered, can vote without the inconvenience of returning to their ancestral villages. In this regard, Halabi announced “the postponement of his research until the next session, which was scheduled next Thursday at Baabda Palace. Cabinet decided to form a committee comprised of the ministers of justice, culture, interior, finance, tourism, communications and education to draft a vision for the megacenter."
• Halabi said “the Council for Development and Reconstruction has been tasked with preparing a detailed study demonstrating the importance of the Bizri Dam project, [describing] the stage the project has reached and proposing practical and technical solutions.”