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MORNING BRIEF

Municipal elections funding under discussion, traditional parties win at Order of Engineers: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Here’s what happened over the holiday weekend and what to expect today, Tuesday, April 18:

Municipal elections funding under discussion, traditional parties win at Order of Engineers: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Motorists drive along the intersection of Damascus Street past the "Beit Beirut" heritage-house-turned-museum which falls along the former Green Line that used to separate the Muslim-dominated part from the Christian-dominated side of Lebanon's capital, on April 13, 2023, the 48th anniversary of the start of the war. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)

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Parliament and cabinet are both scheduled to convene today to discuss the municipal elections, planned to start on May 7 despite having no funding allotted for them yet. Cabinet is expected to discuss the “coverage of municipal elections’ expenses,” according to the meeting agenda distributed by the Grand Serail to ministers. The meeting agenda also lists a host of socio-economic issues, including the economic situation of public employees and retirees, the minimum wage and financing for medicine imports and sanitation contracts. Also today, Parliament is expected to discuss the extension of municipal councils’ mandates for either four months or a year. Yesterday, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said his party will boycott the legislative session, accusing the Free Patriotic Movement of attempting to block financing for the upcoming municipal elections. Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab last week decried government inaction in financing the elections — for which all other preparations are ready and await only an estimated $8 million, according to caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi. The means to finance the race, however, remains a controversial issue: the proposed use of Lebanon’s IMF Special Drawing Rights soured a joint Parliamentary committee session earlier this month. Caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, who refused to sanction the use of SDRs, proposed a supplementary appropriation in the 2022 budget, amounting to LL1.5 billion, which would cover the expenses of organizing municipal elections.

Traditional parties won four of five seats after the Beirut Order of Engineers’ partial elections on Friday. Roy Dagher was the sole opposition candidate to succeed, gaining a seat in the Order’s General Assembly alongside Future Movement-backed candidate Hassan Damej and Free Patriotic Movement-supported candidate Jihad Chahine. Candidates backed by the Amal Movement and alliances of traditional parties won the second and sixth Order department presidencies. Only around 10 percent of Order members voted, according to an estimate given to L’Orient Today by former president of the architecture department, Divina Abou Jaoude. The meager turnout can be linked to the emigration of order members, along with order members’ loss of interest in the syndicate and its social coverage, unelected opposition candidate Hala Younes told L’Orient Today, nonetheless noting that there were more voters this year than in 2022.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday he had adopted a “policy of silence” regarding retaliatory Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon earlier this month, noting that they hit “banana fields and irrigation” rather than Hamas infrastructure as Israeli military claimed. Nasrallah noted that Lebanon does not want a war, while warning that Israel’s “reckless actions in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon or Syria may lead the region to a major war.” Israel launched airstrikes earlier this month against Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, reportedly targeting Hamas infrastructure which had been used to fire rockets against it amid escalated tensions following an Israeli police raid on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. After the Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib instructed the Lebanese envoy to the United Nations to file a complaint against violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and UN resolution 1701, his press office said.

Legal Agenda director, lawyer Nizar Saghieh, received a summons for a Thursday hearing from the Beirut Bar Association, reportedly over unsanctioned media appearances. Saghieh told L’Orient Today that there was no reason cited for the summons. Saghieh was previously called for a hearing after he criticized a BBA decision barring lawyers from making media appearances without receiving prior approval. The Legal Agenda director has refused to comply with the decision and filed an appeal to have the BBA decision overturned — on which a ruling is expected to be issued May 4.

Eligible Internal Security Forces members will receive a monthly cash payment of $100 as of today through a US-funded “Livelihood Support Program” implemented by the United Nations Development Program. The $16.5 million US endowment is expected to cover six months’ worth of payments, disbursed through an unnamed “nationwide financial service provider” which will notify beneficiaries via SMS. Lebanese Army personnel are expected to receive a similar benefit during the second phase of implementation. Security personnel’s salaries have sharply depreciated amid the lira’s loss in value since the start of the economic crisis in 2019. “US support has an essential role in making the army continue its job and relieving the hardships of the [economic] crisis on the soldiers,” Lebanese Army commander General Joseph Aoun said in February during a meeting with US congresspeople.

In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: Climbing group blazes trail for bouldering in Lebanon

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.Parliament and cabinet are both scheduled to convene today to discuss the municipal elections, planned to start on May 7 despite having no funding allotted for them yet. Cabinet is expected to discuss the “coverage of municipal elections’ expenses,” according to the meeting agenda distributed by the Grand Serail to ministers. The...