Lebanese Parliament meeting on April 18, 2023 in Beirut. (Credit: Nabil Ismail)
BEIRUT — Parliament held a session Tuesday morning where MPs voted to extend the mandates of the country's municipal councils and those of the mukhtars for a maximum of one year.
The mandates of the municipal councils and mukhtars therefore expire no later than May 31, 2024.
Upcoming municipal elections, which had already been postponed for a year, were originally scheduled to start May 7.
With Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri presiding, MPs from the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, as well as the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), participated in the session. Those from the opposing Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Kataeb boycotted the session.
The session ended at around 11:40 a.m.
Lebanon is supposed to hold municipal elections every six years. The last local election was held in 2016.
Later on Tuesday, during a cabinet meeting, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he intended to organize the election "as soon as possible."
"After the Parliament has extended the mandate of the municipalities we can take time to discuss this issue of funding," he said. In this context, Caretaker Minister of Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, has been tasked to discuss the issue of funding and new dates with the various parties involved.
The conclusions of these discussions will be reported at the next cabinet meeting.
Controversy
According to the state-run National News Agency, during the Parliamentary meeting, Mikati said "If you really don't want the postponement of the municipal elections, why did you attend today's meeting and ensure the necessary quorum?"
His comment was directed to the FPM.
"Those who do not want the postponement do not participate in the meeting."
Controversy broke out between Saida MP Osama Saad, who accused Mikati's cabinet of lying to the Lebanese people about the elections. Mikati then, in turn, accused, the MPs of lying to the public.
A tense exchange also took place between the Speaker of Parliament and MP Hadi Aboul Hosn of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), who argued for a four-month technical postponement of the municipal elections, in accordance with a bill proposed by the Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Bou Saab.
Parliament has not met for three months, even as Lebanon has been without a president since the end of former head of state Michel Aoun's six-year term on Oct. 31.
During this vacuum, Parliament is only supposed to proceed with electing a new president, a rule that prompted many MPs to boycott the session Tuesday.
Lebanon has been ruled by a caretaker government since May 2022 legislative elections.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati's ministerial team is also due to meet on Tuesday to decide, among other things, on the release of funds needed to finance the municipal elections, should they take place on time.
However, some observers see the discussion as too little too late.
Criticism from Bassil
Speaking after the session, FPM leader Gebran Bassil justified the Free Patriotic Movement's participation in the meeting.
"We participated in this session for one purpose only: to avoid the vacancy in the municipalities and among the mukhtars. We cannot add a municipal vacancy to the presidential and government vacancies," he said. "We are not with ordinary legislation except in cases of extreme necessity."
MP Gebran Bassil speaking in Parliament on April 18, 2023. (Credit: Nabil Ismail)
The FPM leader also attacked caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, who had said he was ready to organize municipal elections if the necessary funding was provided.
"It turned out that the government and the Ministry of Interior are not ready to organize the municipal elections. Minister Mawlawi speaks in the media but says nothing at the meeting," said Bassil.
Bassil also criticized his Christian rival, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, by recalling that the LF participated in legislative sessions between 2014 and 2016 in the midst of a presidential vacuum.
Interior Minister Bassem Mawlawi was quick to respond to Bassil's accusations.
"Mawlawi, in his remarks to the media and behind closed doors, said that the ministry is logistically ready to organize the elections, once the necessary funding is secured," the ministry said in a statement.
MPs also voted in favor of amending the 2021 public procurement law, after approving a bill introduced by MPs Ali Hassan Khalil, Alain Aoun and Jihad Abdel Samad.
The approved bill significantly reduces the effectiveness of the original law in terms of transparency guarantees and free competition, according to a comparative study conducted by the Bassel Fleyhane Institute of Finance.
