The Parliament building in Downtown Beirut. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Parliament on Tuesday elected members of a number of its Parliamentary committees, including its Finance and Budget Committee, at its second session since legislative elections on May 15.
Here’s what we know:
• The members of the the newly elected Finance and Budget committee are: Ayoub Hmayed(Amal/ South III), Michel Moawad (Independent/North III), Fouad Makhzoumi (Independent/Beirut II), Ghada Ayoub (Lebanese Forces/South I), Raji Saad (PSP/Mount Lebanon IV), Jean Talouzian (Independent/Beirut I), Ali Fayyad (Hezbollah/South III), Alain Aoun (FPM/Mount Lebanon III), Salim Aoun (FPM/Bekaa I), Ibrahim Kanaan (FPM/Metn), Ali Hassan Khalil (Amal/South III), Ihab Matar (Independent, NorthII), Ibrahim Mneimneh (Opposition/Beirut II),Hassan Fadlallah (Hezbollah/South III), Ghassan Hasbani (LF/Beirut I), Jihad al Samad (March 8/ NorthII) and Ghazi Zeaiter (Amal/Bekaa III).
• The members of the newly appointed Justice and Administration Committee are: Georges Adwan (LF/Mount Lebanon IV), Bilal Abdallah (PSP/Mount Lebanon IV), Ghada Ayoub (Lebanese Forces/South I) , Ali Khreis (Amal/South II), George Atallah (FPM/North III), Ali Hassan Khalil (Amal/South III), Imad al-Hout (Independent/ Beirut II) Qabalan Qabalan (Amal/BekaaII), Oussama Saad (Independent/South I), Nadim Gemayel (Kataeb/ Beirut I), George Okais(LF/Bekaa I), Ashraf Beydoun (Amal/South III), Ghazi Zeaiter (Amal/ Bekaa III), Hussein Hajj Hassan (Hezbollah/Bekaa III), Ibrahim Kanaan (FPM/Mount Lebanon II), and Marwan Hamade (PSP/Mount Lebanon IV).
• The members of the newly appointed Media and Communications Committee are: Ibrahim Mousawi (Hezbollah/ Beka III), Paula Yacoubian (Opposition group/ Beirut I) , Yassine Yassine (Opposition group/BekaaII), Marwan Hamade (PSP/Mount Lebanon IV), Rami Abu Hamdan (Hezbollah/Bekaa I), Nicolas Sehnaoui (FPM/Beirut I), Ghaith Yazbeck (LF/North III), Jimmy Jabbour (FPM/North I), Qabalan Qabalan (Amal/Bekaa II), Cesar Abi Khalil (FPM/Mount Lebanon IV), Said Al Asmar (Lebanese Forces/South I) and Mohammad Sleiman (related to Future/North I).
• Parliamentary committees play an important role on a legislative level in negotiating and approving bills before they are delivered to the full legislature to be voted on.
• Once these committees are elected, President Michel Aoun will reportedly summon MPs for the parliamentary consultations aimed at appointing a new prime minister-designate.
• The process of electing committees is expected to take place for several days.
*Correction: An earlier version of the article mentioned Melhem Khalaf (Opposition/ Beirut I) was part of the Justice and Administration Committee, when in reality Oussama Saad (Independent/South I) will be part of the Committee.